starve

[stahrv]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR starve ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), starved, starv·ing.

to die or perish from lack of food or nourishment.

to be in the process of perishing or suffering severely from hunger.

to suffer from extreme poverty and need.

to feel a strong need or desire: The child was starving for affection.

Chiefly British Dialect. to perish or suffer extremely from cold.

Obsolete. to die.

verb (used with object), starved, starv·ing.

to cause to starve; kill, weaken, or reduce by lack of food.

to subdue, or force to some condition or action, by hunger: to starve a besieged garrison into a surrender.

to cause to suffer for lack of something needed or craved.

Chiefly British Dialect. to cause to perish, or to suffer extremely, from cold.

Origin of starve

before 1000; Middle English sterven, Old English steorfan to die; cognate with German sterben

Related formshalf-starved, adjectivehalf-starv·ing, adjectiveself-starved, adjectiveun·starved, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for starve

quit, renounce, refrain, withhold, forgo, cease, shun, require, demand, abstain, forbear, decline, refuse, spurn, avoid, eschew, stop, fast, abjure, curb

Examples from the Web for starve

Contemporary Examples of starve

Still, the man did starve himself in the name of a same-sex marriage ban and it, unsurprisingly, earned him a lot of backlash.
Utah Man Gives Up Gay Marriage Hunger Strike
Caitlin Dickson
January 6, 2014
This can explain why people who starve themselves can only lose minimal amounts of weight.
Eating More Fat Could Save Your Life
Daniela Drake
December 13, 2013
For them, it was assimilate or starve, with the constant reality of low-wage labor being undercut by new arrivals.
The Heritage Immigration Study, Ctd.
Justin Green
May 7, 2013
No one will starve here (except those inexplicably ignored persons who already are starving).
The Scariest Thing About Sandy: Guarding the Water Supply
Kent Sepkowitz
October 30, 2012
In a way, it was my decision not to starve myself that turned me into a supermodel, and later on, a businesswoman.
Tyra Banks’s Open Letter to Models: ‘Vogue’ to Ban Images of Anorexia
Tyra Banks
May 15, 2012

Historical Examples of starve

We would do anything in our power for Sergeant Wilde and for the cause, but we cannot starve!'
The Grand Old Man
Richard B. Cook
Old, a lot of them, and gettin' well to go out and starve, and—My God!
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
You may hang a man if you like, but you have no right to starve him.
In the Midst of Alarms
Robert Barr
Content to starve, content to freeze, if only he need not be carried into captivity.
The Village Watch-Tower
(AKA Kate Douglas Riggs) Kate Douglas Wiggin
Leaving me here hungry and thirsty and tired, to starve, for anything they care!
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens

British Dictionary definitions for starve

starve

verb

to die or cause to die from lack of food

to deprive (a person or animal) or (of a person, etc) to be deprived of food

(intr) informal to be very hungry

(foll by of or for) to deprive or be deprived (of something necessary), esp so as to cause suffering or malfunctioningthe engine was starved of fuel

(tr foll by into) to bring (to) a specified condition by starvingto starve someone into submission

archaic to be or cause to be extremely cold

Derived Formsstarver, noun

Word Origin for starve

Old English steorfan to die; related to Old Frisian sterva to die, Old High German sterban to die

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for starve

Old English steorfan "to die" (past tense stearf, past participle storfen), from Proto-Germanic *sterban "be stiff" (cf. Old Frisian sterva, Dutch sterven, Old High German sterban "to die," Old Norse stjarfi "tetanus"), from PIE root *ster- "stiff, rigid" (cf. Greek sterphnios "stiff, rigid," sterphos "hide, skin," Old Church Slavonic strublu "strong, hard;" see stare).

The conjugation became weak in English by 16c. The sense narrowed to "die of cold" (14c.); meaning "to kill with hunger" is first recorded 1520s (earlier to starve of hunger, early 12c.). Intransitive sense of "to die of hunger" dates from 1570s. German cognate sterben retains the original sense of the word, but the English has come so far from its origins that starve to death (1910) is now common.

starve in Medicine

starve

[stärv]

v.

To suffer or die from extreme or prolonged lack of food.

To deprive of food so as to cause suffering or death.