SYNONYMS | EXAMPLES | WORD ORIGIN adjective extremely hungry: to be famished after a hike; famished, homeless multitudes.
Origin of famished late Middle English word dating back to
1375–1425; see origin at
famish ,
-ed2 Related forms half-fam·ished , adjective verb (used with or without object) Archaic to suffer or cause to suffer extreme hunger; starve.
to starve to death.
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Origin of famish 1350–1400; Middle English famisshe, equivalent to
famen to starve (<
Anglo-French, Middle French afamer <
Vulgar Latin *affamāre, equivalent to
Latin af- af- +
famāre, derivative of
famēs hunger) +
-isshe -ish2 Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for famished Contemporary Examples of famished North Korea is this impoverished, famished regime, but they have our attention because they have nuclear weapons.
Famished Financier Dear Famished : You, sir, have come to the right place.
Dash Snow was an artist whose subject matter involved rats, famished dogs, squalid sex, police brutality, and street life.
Historical Examples of famished It was simply a bare, gaunt, famished skeleton, slaying his way along.
That's well—and that ould Matthew is as obstinate a neger as ever famished his stomach.
These she produced likewise; and he ate and drank with the voracity of a famished hound.
It seemed to Madame Francois that he was in far too famished a condition to have got drunk.
However, that was a slight affair, and Vance was far too famished to be particular.
British Dictionary definitions for famished verb (now usually passive) to be or make very hungry or weak
archaic to die or cause to die from starvation
Irish to make very cold I was famished with the cold
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Derived Forms famishment , noun Word Origin for famish C14: from Old French afamer , via Vulgar Latin, from Latin famēs famine
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for famished v. c.1400, famyschen , alteration of famen (late 14c.), a shortening of Old French afamer , from Vulgar Latin *affamare "to bring to hunger," from ad famem , from Latin fames "hunger" (see famine ).
Ending changed mid-14c. to -ish under influence of ravish , anguish , etc. The intransitive sense is from 1520s. Related: Famished ; famishing .
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
