Dictionary

famish en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈfamɪʃ/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle English famisshe, from famen (“starve”), from Old French afamer, ultimately from Latin famēs (“hunger”). Compare affamish, famine. Cognate with Spanish hambre (“hunger”).

Meanings

1. (obsolete, transitive) To starve (to death); to kill or destroy with hunger.
   • Even so did Corellius Rufus, another grave senator, by the relation of Plinius Secundus, Epist. lib.1, epist.12, famish himself to death […] 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section IV, member 1:
2. (transitive) To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to cause to be very hungry.
   • And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 41:55:
   • The pains of famished Tantalus [he] shall feel. 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
3. (transitive) To kill, or to cause great suffering to, by depriving or denying anything necessary.
   • And famish him of breath, if not of bread? 1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
4. (transitive) To force, control, or constrain by famine.
   • He had […]famished Paris into a surrender. 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
5. (intransitive) To die of hunger; to starve to death.
   • Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The vvhilſt their ovvne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittifull. c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], signature D3, verso:
6. (intransitive) To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in strength, or to nearly perish.
   • You are all resolved rather to die than to famish? c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
7. (intransitive) To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary.
   • The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 10:3:

Forms

Deriveds

famisher · famishment

Translations (4)

cs umírat hlady (To suffer extreme hunger) · bg гладувам (To suffer extreme hunger) · cs hladovět (To suffer extreme hunger) · wyi nerribrenin (To suffer extreme hunger)