Link Centre Dictionary

starve

UK/stɑːv/ US/stɑɹv/ fairly common uk

verb

1.

be hungry; go without food

  • “Let”
  • “m starving!”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

die of food deprivation

  • “The political prisoners starved to death”
  • “Many famished in the countryside during the drought”
Synonyms
3.

deprive of food

  • “They starved the prisoners”
Synonyms
Antonyms
4.
5.

deprive of a necessity and cause suffering

  • “he is starving her of love”
  • “The engine was starved of fuel”

Origin

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”).

Phrases

  • feed a cold, starve a fever
  • ha'penny starver
  • penny starver
  • starve out
  • starve the bardies
  • starve the beast
  • starve the crows
  • starve the lizards

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.