Dictionary

devour en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /dɪˈvaʊə(ɹ)/ (UK)
• /dɪˈvaʊɚ/ (US)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English devouren, from Old French devorer (Modern French dévorer), from Latin dēvorō, from vorō.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To eat quickly, greedily, hungrily, or ravenously.
   • Once constituted, capital reproduces itself faster than output increases. The past devours the future. 2017 [2013], Thomas Piketty, translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Belknap Press, →ISBN, page 571:
2. (idiomatic, transitive) To rapidly destroy, engulf, or lay waste.
   • The fire was devouring the building.
   • If ye refuse[…]ye shall be devoured with the sword. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 1:20:
   • Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within,[…]most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities. 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:
3. (idiomatic, transitive) To take in avidly with the intellect or with one's gaze.
   • She intended to devour the book.
   • My dreams were largely based on the works of Dickens (his Mugby Junction stories), Thackeray (Jeames on the Gauge Question), and Arthur Conan Doyle, whose Sherlock Holmes stories I kept devouring with gluttonous abandon. 2026 April 1, Vitali Vitaliev, “Literature on the track”, in RAIL, number 1058, page 68:
   • Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy—[…]—distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its flavor. 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 2:
4. (idiomatic, transitive) To absorb or engross the mind fully, especially in a destructive manner.
   • After the death of his wife, he was devoured by grief.
5. (Internet, intransitive) Synonym of eat: to be very good at something; to slay.
   • She devoured! She left no crumbs!

Forms

Deriveds

devouringly · interdevour · devourer · devourment · devourable · undevoured · all-devouring · devouringness

Relateds

voracious

Synonyms

eat · eat · devastate · devastate · engorge · shine · overwhelm · consume · go hard · go hard · slap · gorge · gobble · wolf · bang · kick ass · overwhelm · slay · kick · devour · rule · eat and leave no crumbs · rock · excel · kick ass

Translations (101)

et õgima (to eat greedily) · pl pałaszować (to eat greedily) · hu zabál (to eat greedily) · de verschlingen (to eat greedily) · io devorar (to eat greedily) · fa لمباندن (to eat greedily) · it memorizzare (to take in avidly) · fa غوطهور شدن (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · pl pustoszyć (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · pl chłonąć (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · mi horomiti (to eat greedily) · nn sluke (to eat greedily) · ang fretan (to eat greedily) · enm devouren (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · es jambar (to eat greedily) · it consumare (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · txb śu- (to eat greedily) · mi ngūngū (to eat greedily) · fa غرق شدن (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · te తినేయు (to eat greedily) · es devorar (to eat greedily) · pl pożerać (to eat greedily) · enm freten (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · pl pożreć (to eat greedily) · it ingozzarsi (to eat greedily) · ar اِلْتَهَمَ (to eat greedily) · sv sluka (to eat greedily) · ru лопать (to eat greedily) · fr dévorer (to eat greedily) · ro devora (to eat greedily) · de verschlingen (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · kw devorya (to eat greedily) · enm freten (to eat greedily) · th เขมือบ (to eat greedily) · pt devorar (to eat greedily) · it ingurgitare (to eat greedily) · grc λαφύσσω (to eat greedily) · cs pohltit (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · cs pohltit (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · hu fal (to eat greedily) · ru жрать (to eat greedily) · enm devouren (to eat greedily) · bg поглъщам (to eat greedily) · cs hltat (to eat greedily) · it assorbire (to take in avidly) · fr dévorer (to take in avidly) · bg ям лакомо (to eat greedily) · pl pochłaniać (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · la peredō (to eat greedily) · mi whāō (to eat greedily) · sh pròždrijēti (to eat greedily) · ca devorar (to eat greedily) · oc devorar (to eat greedily) · it assorbire (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · grc δαρδάπτω (to eat greedily) · it ingurgitare (to take in avidly) · da sluge (to eat greedily) · it divorare (to eat greedily) · ga plac (to eat greedily) · de vernichten (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · it riempire (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · fr dévorer (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · it divorare (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · de herunterschlingen (to eat greedily) · nl vreten (to eat greedily) · de zerstören (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · pl pochłonąć (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · cs zhltnout (to eat greedily) · pl spałaszować (to eat greedily) · it consumare (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · nl schransen (to eat greedily) · it divorare (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · nl verslinden (to eat greedily) · de verschlingen (to take in avidly) · pl spustoszyć (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · eo vori (to eat greedily) · de eingenommen sein von (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · de schlingen (to eat greedily) · sa गिरति (to eat greedily) · ja 貪る (to eat greedily) · cs zhltat (to take in avidly) · non gleypa (to eat greedily) · fi ahmia (to eat greedily) · de besessen sein von (to absorb or engross the mind fully) · de fressen (to eat greedily) · it incamerare (to take in avidly) · he טָרַף (to eat greedily) · eo manĝegi (to eat greedily) · it divorare (to take in avidly) · es devorar (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste) · grc δάπτω (to eat greedily) · fa قورت دادن (to take in avidly) · it affogarsi (to eat greedily) · la vorō (to eat greedily) · nb sluke (to eat greedily) · it trangugiare (to take in avidly) · bcl habungal (to eat greedily) · pl chłonąć (to take in avidly) · el καταβροχθίζω (to eat greedily) · it trangugiare (to eat greedily) · fa طعمه حریق شدن (to rapidly destroy, engulf or lay waste)