Dictionary

starve en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /stɑɹv/ (General-American)
• /stɑːv/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English sterven (“to die, perish”), from Old English steorfan (“to die, perish”), from Proto-West Germanic *sterban, from Proto-Germanic *sterbaną (“to become stiff, die”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terp- (“to lose strength, become numb, be motionless”); or from Proto-Indo-European *sterbʰ- (“to become stiff”), from *ster- (“stiff”); or a conflation of the aforementioned. Cognate with Scots stairve, sterve (“to die, perish, starve”), Saterland Frisian stjerwa (“to die”), West Frisian stjerre (“to die”), Dutch sterven (“to die”), German Low German starven (“to die”), German sterben (“to die”), Icelandic stirfinn (“peevish, froward”), Albanian shterp (“sterile, unproductive, barren land”).

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To die because of lack of food or of not eating.
   • "When all of you starve to death, Shasta, don't come crying to me, that's all." 2007, Lisa Wingate, A Thousand Voices, page 76:
   • During the Cultural Revolution I was exiled to Xincai County in Henan Province. There, 36 percent of the people starved to death in the early 1960s. 1990, Chen Yizi (陳一諮), quotee, Children of the Dragon: The Story of Tiananmen Square, →ISBN, page 48:
2. (intransitive) To suffer severely because of lack of food or of not eating.
   • ..., and the little half-starved, stunted girl of twelve, with her brown arms and steady, unerring aim, will hammer out half a bundle, IS. 6½d. 1884, Jacob Schoenhof, The Destructive Influence of the Tariff Upon Manufacture and Commerce and the Figures and Facts Relating Thereto, page 62:
   • Ah (ſaid the Ape as ſighing vvondrous ſad) / Its an hard caſe, vvhen men of good deſeruing / Muſt either driuen be perforce to ſteruing, / Or asked for their pas by euerie ſquib: […] 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC:
3. (intransitive) To be very hungry.
   • I was starving so I wrote S.O.S. on the desert island using rocks.
4. (transitive) To kill or attempt to kill by depriving of food.
5. (transitive) To make suffer severely by depriving of food.
6. (transitive) To force a combatant to submit or surrender by depriving of food, as in a targeted siege.
   • If they refuse to surrender the garrison, we'll just starve them out.
7. (dated, transitive) To force a population center to submit or surrender by depriving of food, as in sieges in international armed conflicts.
   • Some historians have since classified the Siege of Leningrad as a genocide due to the intentional destruction of the city and the systematic starvation of its civilian population.
8. (transitive) To deprive of nourishment or of some vital component.
   • The uncaring parents starved the child of love.
   • Let them not ſtill be obſtinately blind, / Still to divert the Good thou haſt deſign'd, / Or vvith Malignant penury, / To ſterve the Royal Vertues of his Mind. 1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis: A Funeral-Pindarique Poem Sacred to the Happy Memory of King Charles II, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, stanza XVIII, page 24:
   • The patient’s brain was starved of oxygen.
   • Mildly it [the wind] kiſt our ſailes, and, freſh, and ſvveet, / As, to a ſtomack ſterv'd, vvhoſe inſides meete, / Meate comes, it came; and ſvvole our ſailes, vvhen vvee / So joyd, as Sara' her ſvvelling joy'd to ſee. a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “The Storme. To Mr. Christopher Brooke.”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 57:
9. (intransitive) To deteriorate for want of any essential thing.
10. (UK, qualifier:especially Yorkshire and Lancashire, transitive) To kill with cold; to (cause to) die from cold.
    • I was half starved waiting out in that wind.
    • Sometimes he remarks, “ ’Tis these dreadful frostis that spiles everything. ’Tis enough to sterve anybody.” 1898, J. Arthur Gibbs, “When the May-Fly is Up”, in A Cotswold village; or, Country Life & Pursuits in Gloucestershire, London: John Murray, →OCLC, page 164:
    • Wheniver he wor starved, he used to get th' seck o' coils ov his back, an' walk raand th' haase till he gat warm agean. 1869 February, John Hartley, The original illuminated clock almanack:
    • One i' th' morning an' me starv'd to th' death wi' waitin' up. 1886, A Queer Supper, John Heywood, section 8:
11. (intransitive, obsolete) To die; in later use especially to die slowly, waste away.
    • Seuen moneths he ſo her kept in bitter ſmart, / Becauſe his ſinfull luſt ſhe would not ſerue, / Vntill ſuch time as noble Britomart / Releaſed her, that elſe was like to ſterue / Through cruell knife that her deare heart did kerue. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 6:

Forms

Deriveds

nonstarving · starve the beast · starve-gutted · starveling · ha'penny starver · hunger-starve · starvedly · starver · starve out · overstarve · feed a cold, starve a fever · starve-acre · nonstarved · while the grass grows, the steed starves · starving · semistarved · starving artist · bitstarve · starvation · prestarved · starvingly · starve the crows · cash-starved · starve the bardies · starve the lizards · penny starver · sex-starved · unstarved · starved

Synonyms

famish

Translations (114)

ru голода́ть (to be very hungry) · fi nääntyä (obsolete: to die — see also die) · fr affamer (to deprive of nourishment) · he גָּוַע (to die because of lack of food) · te పస్తు (to die because of lack of food) · pl głodzić (to deprive of nourishment) · cy llwgu (to be very hungry) · nl uithongeren (to deprive of nourishment) · sah аас (to be very hungry) · de verhungern lassen (to deprive of nourishment) · tr aç bırakmak (to deprive of nourishment) · de verhungern (to die because of lack of food) · cs hladovět (to die because of lack of food) · ru ча́хнуть (obsolete: to die — see also die) · gl esfamear (to die because of lack of food) · uk голодува́ти (to die because of lack of food) · mi whakapuango (to deprive of nourishment) · fr avoir l'estomac dans les talons (to be very hungry) · cmn 餓死 /饿死 (to die because of lack of food) · vi chết đói (to die because of lack of food) · es morir de hambre (to die because of lack of food) · ru изголода́ться (to be very hungry) · bg гладувам (to die because of lack of food) · es hambrear (to be very hungry) · ru голода́ть (to die because of lack of food) · gl alangrear (to be very hungry) · tl gutumin (to die because of lack of food) · ru умира́ть с го́лода (to die because of lack of food) · sv svälta (to be very hungry) · ru умира́ть с го́лоду (to die because of lack of food) · ro înfometa (to deprive of nourishment) · hu éheztet (to deprive of nourishment) · sv vara svulten (to be very hungry) · id kelaparan (to be very hungry) · mi whakatiki (to deprive of nourishment) · tl magutom (to be very hungry) · nl sterven van de honger (to be very hungry) · ro muri de foame (to be very hungry) · ast esfamiar (to die because of lack of food) · hu éhezik (to be very hungry) · te ఆకలిచావు (to die because of lack of food) · ro flămânzi (to die because of lack of food) · it morire di fame (to die because of lack of food) · ca morir de gana (to die because of lack of food) · sk hladovať (to die because of lack of food) · vi đói meo (to be very hungry) · cmn 饿死 (to be very hungry) · el πεθαίνω της πείνας (to be very hungry) · ar مَاتَ جَوْعًا (to die because of lack of food) · ru мори́ть го́лодом (to deprive of nourishment) · pl głodować (to die because of lack of food) · tr açlıktan ölmek (to die because of lack of food) · bg умирам от глад (to be very hungry) · fi nääntyä (to die because of lack of food) · be галада́ць (to die because of lack of food) · ro suferi de foame (to die because of lack of food) · pt esfomear (to deprive of nourishment) · de aushungern (to deprive of nourishment) · hu éhenhal (to die because of lack of food) · de verhungern (to be very hungry) · gl esfamear (to deprive of nourishment) · gl alangrear (to die because of lack of food) · es morir de hambre (to be very hungry) · ar تَضَوَّرَ (to be very hungry) · te ఘోరకలి (to be very hungry) · es hambrear (to deprive of nourishment) · ru проголода́ться (to be very hungry) · sv svälta (to die because of lack of food) · ro muri de foame (to die because of lack of food) · qu mallay (to be very hungry) · fr mourir de faim (to die because of lack of food) · kkh ᩋᩧ᩠ᨷ (to die because of lack of food) · ja 飢えさせる (to deprive of nourishment) · id mati kelaparan (to die because of lack of food) · nl verhongeren (to die because of lack of food) · de Hungers sterben (to die because of lack of food) · nl rammelen (to be very hungry) · pt estar faminto (to be very hungry) · fr crever de faim (to be very hungry) · it affamare (to deprive of nourishment) · fi näännyttää (to deprive of nourishment) · fo svølta (to destroy by deprivation) · ru умира́ть от го́лода (to die because of lack of food) · sv svälta (ut) (to destroy by deprivation) · sv svälta (ut) (to deprive of nourishment) · sl stradati (to die because of lack of food) · gl esfamear (to be very hungry) · ko 굶어죽다 (to die because of lack of food) · pt estar louco de fome (to be very hungry) · fi nälkiinnyttää (to destroy by deprivation) · fi kuolla nälkään (to die because of lack of food) · sv vara utsvulten (to be very hungry) · vi đói ngấu (to be very hungry) · fi näännyttää (to destroy by deprivation) · eo malsati (to deprive of nourishment) · fi nääntyä (nälkään) (to die because of lack of food) · te చప్పిడికూడు (to deprive of nourishment) · fi kuolla nälkään (to be very hungry) · nl sterven van de honger (to die because of lack of food) · ja 餓死する (to die because of lack of food) · ja 飢える (to die because of lack of food) · az acından ölmək (to be very hungry) · qu yarqay (to be very hungry) · fr mourir de faim (to be very hungry) · el ψοφάω της πείνας (to be very hungry) · fr crever la dalle (to be very hungry) · pt morrer de fome (to die because of lack of food) · tr açlıktan ölmek (to be very hungry) · fo svølta (to die because of lack of food) · ru умира́ть от го́лода (to be very hungry) · el λιμοκτονώ (to die because of lack of food) · pt estar morrendo de fome (to be very hungry) · ja 飢える (to be very hungry) · cu алкати (to be very hungry)