starveling

American  

[stahrv-ling] / ˈstɑrv lɪŋ /

noun

1. a person, animal, or plant that is starving.

---

adjective

1. starving; suffering from lack of nourishment.

2. pining with want.

3. poverty-stricken.

4. poor in condition or quality.

5. such as to entail or suggest starvation.

starveling British  

/ ˈstɑːvlɪŋ /

noun

1. 1. a starving or poorly fed person, animal, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a starveling child

---

adjective

1. insufficient; meagre; scant

Etymology

Origin of starveling

First recorded in 1540–50; starve + -ling ¹

Example Sentences

As a preliminary they summoned to the Royal Palace in Madrid a starveling rabble of beggars from among whom were chosen by lot 13 men and 13 women.

From Time Magazine Archive

During the postwar decade, first as a starveling poet and then as tutor at Magdalen College, he felt something else at his back-the Hound of Heaven.

From Time Magazine Archive

Like many another Irishman, he sees the skull beneath the skin, just as his starveling heroes see the sharp rocks gnaw through the thin soil.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was a starveling lawyer, writing orations for practice in the hot, sandy afternoons; galloping his horse to & from a young man's fun in the Kansas night.

From Time Magazine Archive

And Carmel, begun by starveling writers and unwanted painters, is now a community of the well-to-do and the retired.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck