Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Famish
Fam′ish
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Famished
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Famishing
.] 1.
To starve, kill, or destroy with hunger.
Shak.
2.
To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to distress with hanger.
And when all the land of Egypt was
famished
, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Cen. xli. 55.
The pains of
famished
Tantalus he’ll feel. Dryden.
3.
To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation or denial of anything necessary.
And
famish
him of breath, if not of bread. Milton.
4.
To force or constrain by famine.
He had
famished
Paris into a surrender. Burke.
Fam′ish
,Verb.
I.
1.
To die of hunger; to starve.
2.
To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in strength, or to come near to perish.
You are all resolved rather to die than to
famish
? Shakespeare
3.
To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary.
The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to
famish
. Prov. x. 3.
Webster 1828 Edition
Famish
FAM'ISH
,Verb.
T.
1.
To starve; to kill or destroy with hunger.2.
To exhaust the strength of, by hunger or thirst; to distress with hunger.The pains of famished Tantalus he'll feel.
3.
To kill by deprivation or denial of any thing necessary for life.FAM'ISH
, v.i.1.
To die of hunger. More generally,2.
To suffer extreme hunger or thirst; to be exhausted in strength, or to come near to perish, for want of food or drink.You are all resolved rather to die, than to famish.
3.
To be distressed with want; to come near to perish by destitution.The Lord will not suffer the righteous to famish. Prov. 10.
Definition 2024
famish
famish
English
Verb
famish (third-person singular simple present famishes, present participle famishing, simple past and past participle famished)
- (obsolete, transitive) To starve (to death); to kill or destroy with hunger.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, I.iv.1:
- Even so did Corellius Rufus, another grave senator, by the relation of Plinius Secundus, Epist. lib.1, epist.12, famish himself to death […].
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, I.iv.1:
- (transitive) To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to distress with hunger.
- And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. -- Gen. xli. 55.
- The pains of famished Tantalus he'll feel. --Dryden.
- (transitive) To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation or denial of anything necessary.
- And famish him of breath, if not of bread. -- Milton.
- (transitive) To force or constrain by famine.
- He had famished Paris into a surrender. -- Burke.
- (intransitive) To die of hunger; to starve.
- (intransitive) To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in strength, or to come near to perish.
- You are all resolved rather to die than to famish? -- Shakespeare
- (intransitive) To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary.
- The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. -- Prov. x. 3.
References
- famish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913