Hunger (root: hunger)

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: hun=ger

CIDE DICTIONARY

Hunger, n. [AS. hungor; akin to OFries. hunger, D. honger, OS. & OHG. hungar, G. hunger, Icel. hungr, Sw. & Dan. hunger, Goth. hhrus hunger, huggrjan to hunger.].

•  An uneasy sensation occasioned normally by the want of food; a craving or desire for food.  [1913 Webster]

  " The sensation of hunger is usually referred to the stomach, but is probably dependent on excitation of the sensory nerves, both of the stomach and intestines, and perhaps also on indirect impressions from other organs, more or less exhausted from lack of nutriment."  [1913 Webster]
•  Any strong eager desire.  [1913 Webster]

  "O sacred hunger of ambitious minds!"  [1913 Webster]

  "For hunger of my gold I die."  [1913 Webster]

Hunger, v. i. [OE. hungren, AS. hyngrian. See Hunger, n.].

•  To feel the craving or uneasiness occasioned by want of food; to be oppressed by hunger.  [1913 Webster]
•  To have an eager desire; to long.  [1913 Webster]

  "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteouness."  [1913 Webster]

Hunger, v. t. 

 To make hungry; to famish.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Hunger, n. & v.
--n.
1 a feeling of pain or discomfort, or (in extremes) an exhausted condition, caused by lack of food.
2 (often foll. by for, after) a strong desire.
--v.intr.
1 (often foll. by for, after) have a craving or strong desire.
2 feel hunger.

Idiom

hunger march a march undertaken by a body of unemployed etc. to call attention to their condition. hunger marcher a person who goes on a hunger march. hunger strike the refusal of food as a form of protest, esp. by prisoners. hunger striker a person who takes part in a hunger strike.

Etymology

OE hungor, hyngran f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Hunger

ache, an universal wolf, appetence, appetency, appetite, appetition, aspire after, be ravenous, break bread, canine appetite, cannibalism, carnivorism, carnivority, carnivorousness, chewing, consumption, count calories, covet, coveting, crave, crave after, craving, crawl after, cropping, cupidity, deglutition, desire, devouring, devourment, diet, dieting, dining, drought, dryness, eat, eating, emptiness, empty stomach, epulation, eye hungrily, fall to, famine, fare, feasting, feed, feeding, feel hungry, gluttony, gobbling, grazing, hanker, hanker after, hankering, have a tapeworm, herbivorism, herbivority, herbivorousness, hollow hunger, hunger after, hunger for, hungriness, ingestion, itch, itching, licking, longing, lust, lust after, manducation, mania, mastication, messing, munching, nibbling, nutrition, omnivorism, omnivorousness, omophagy, pant after, pantophagy, partake, partake of, pasture, pasturing, pecking, pine, pitch in, polydipsia, prurience, pruriency, raven, ravenousness, regalement, relish, relishing, rumination, run mad after, savor, savoring, sexual desire, sigh, starvation, starve, stomach, sweet tooth, take, tapeworm, taste, tasting, thirst, thirst after, thirst for, thirstiness, torment of Tantalus, vegetarianism, voraciousness, voracity, want, wolfing, yearn, yearning, yen

ROGET THESAURUS

Hunger

Desire

N desire, wish, fancy, fantasy, want, need, exigency, mind, inclination, leaning, bent, animus, partiality, penchant, predilection, propensity, willingness, liking, love, fondness, relish, longing, hankering, inkling, solicitude, anxiety, yearning, coveting, aspiration, ambition, vaulting ambition, eagerness, zeal, ardor, empressement, breathless impatience, overanxiety, impetuosity, appetite, appetition, appetence, appetency, sharp appetite, keenness, hunger, stomach, twist, thirst, thirstiness, drouth, mouthwatering, itch, itching, prurience, cacoethes, cupidity, lust, concupiscence, edge of appetite, edge of hunger, torment of Tantalus, sweet tooth, lickerish tooth, itching palm, longing eye, wistful eye, sheep's eye, greed, voracity, passion, rage, furore, mania, manie, inextinguishable desire, dipsomania, kleptomania, lover, amateur, votary, devotee, aspirant, solicitant, candidate, applicant, supplicant, cormorant, desideratum, want, a consummation devoutly to be wished, attraction, magnet, allurement, fancy, temptation, seduction, fascination, prestige, height of one's ambition, idol, whim, whimsy, whimsey, maggot, hobby, hobby-horse, Fortunatus's cap, wishing cap, wishing stone, wishing well, desirous, desiring, inclined, partial to, fain, wishful, optative, anxious, wistful, curious, at a loss for, sedulous, solicitous, craving, hungry, sharp-set, peckish, ravening, with an empty stomach, esurient, lickerish, thirsty, athirst, parched with thirst, pinched with hunger, famished, dry, drouthy, hungry as a hunter, hungry as a hawk, hungry as a horse, hungry as a church mouse, hungry as a bear, greedy, unsatisfied, unsated, unslaked, unsaturated, eager, avid, keen, burning, fervent, ardent, agog, all agog, breathless, impatient, bent on, intent on, set on, bent upon, intent upon, set upon, mad after, enrage, rabid, dying for, devoured by desire, aspiring, ambitious, vaulting, skyaspiring, high-reaching, desirable, desired, in demand, pleasing, appetizing, appetible, tantalizing, wistfully, fain, Int, would that, would that it were!, O for!, esto perpetual, the wish being father to the thought, sua cuique voluptas, hoc erat in votis, the mouth watering, the fingers itching, aut Caesar aut nullus, Cassius has a lean and hungry look, hungry as the grave, I was born to other things, not what we wish but what we want, such joy ambition finds, the sea hath bounds but deep desire hath none, ubi mel ibi apes.