starve the beast en · VERB
Etymology
According to Bruce Bartlett, the second sense was first used by an anonymous Reagan staffer in “We didn’t starve the beast. It’s still eating quite well—by feeding off future generations.”
Meanings
- (US) To progressively weaken or destroy a dangerous or powerful entity through attrition.
-
(US) To deprive the federal government of revenue by cutting taxes in an effort to force it to limit spending.
Whatever the mechanism, attempts to starve the beast through revenue shortages somehow seem to make the beast all the more voracious.
2010 February 22, Catherine Rampell, “A New Social Contract, but Which One?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Oct 2021:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| starving the beast | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| starves the beast | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| starved the beast | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| starved the beast | Tense=Past | lexicographic |
wikipedia: Ronald Reagan · wikipedia: The Independent Review · wikipedia: Bruce Bartlett