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Starve   /stɑrv/   Listen
verb
Starve  v. t.  
1.
To destroy with cold. (Eng.) "From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth."
2.
To kill with hunger; as, maliciously to starve a man is, in law, murder.
3.
To distress or subdue by famine; as, to starve a garrison into a surrender. "Attalus endeavored to starve Italy by stopping their convoy of provisions from Africa."
4.
To destroy by want of any kind; as, to starve plants by depriving them of proper light and air.
5.
To deprive of force or vigor; to disable. "The pens of historians, writing thereof, seemed starved for matter in an age so fruitful of memorable actions." "The powers of their minds are starved by disuse."


Starve  v. i.  (past & past part. starved; pres. part. starving)  
1.
To die; to perish. (Obs., except in the sense of perishing with cold or hunger.) "In hot coals he hath himself raked... Thus starved this worthy mighty Hercules."
2.
To perish with hunger; to suffer extreme hunger or want; to be very indigent. "Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed."
3.
To perish or die with cold. "Have I seen the naked starve for cold?" "Starving with cold as well as hunger." Note: In this sense, still common in England, but rarely used in the United States.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Starve" Quotes from Famous Books



... may be objected that this would starve the sky pilots. But why should it do anything of the kind? Have they no faith! Must all the faith be on our side? Should they not practise a little of what they preach? God tells them to pray for their daily bread, and no doubt he would ...
— Flowers of Freethought - (First Series) • George W. Foote
... tired. All her buoyant life seemed to settle to a level where she must foster the youth of others and starve her own. ...
— Country Neighbors • Alice Brown
... can you say that, when they are so very poor, and when every one of them is the proud kind that would simply rather starve than go after their turkey and things! That's why we girls take them to ...
— The Tangled Threads • Eleanor H. Porter
... up, and it is right that they should. There is no reason why the girl at work at a loom should starve just that your wife should save a cent or two a yard on her gingham dress. Wages must go up, and ...
— A Man of Samples • Wm. H. Maher
... certainly ought to have made some better provision," continued Lord Stapledean. "But he has not done so; and it seems to me, that unless something is arranged, your mother and her children will starve. Now, you are ...
— The Bertrams • Anthony Trollope


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