starveling

American  

[stahrv-ling] / ˈstɑrv lɪŋ /

noun

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

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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

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adjective

1. insufficient; meagre; scant

Etymology

Origin of starveling

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

Example Sentences

Last week they dropped again -to a lean six pages -with a starveling four in prospect.

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

Held to a starveling 22-yds. rushing in the first half, the Patriots went into the break trailing 13-9.

From Time Magazine Archive

And the academic division was reduced to a starveling $4,320,824 � less than the endowment of Mount Holyoke.

From Time Magazine Archive

The man looked at them—a thin girl of ten with starveling hollows in her cheeks but with the chin still baby-round.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith