famish

• POS: Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: fam=ish

CIDE DICTIONARY

famish, v. t. [OE. famen; cf. OF. afamer, L. fames. See Famine, and cf. Affamish.].

•  To starve, kill, or destroy with hunger.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to distress with hanger.  [1913 Webster]

  "And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread."  [1913 Webster]

  "The pains of famished Tantalus he'll feel."  [1913 Webster]
•  To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation or denial of anything necessary.  [1913 Webster]

  "And famish him of breath, if not of bread."  [1913 Webster]
•  To force or constrain by famine.  [1913 Webster]

  "He had famished Paris into a surrender."  [1913 Webster]

famish, v. i. 

•  To die of hunger; to starve.  [1913 Webster]
•  To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in strength, or to come near to perish.  [1913 Webster]

  "You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?"  [1913 Webster]
•  To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary.  [1913 Webster]

  "The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

famish, v.tr. & intr. (usu. in passive)
1 reduce or be reduced to extreme hunger.
2 colloq. feel very hungry.

Etymology

ME f. obs. fame f. OF afamer ult. f. L fames hunger

ROGET THESAURUS

famish

Parsimony

VB be parsimonious, grudge, begrudge, stint, pinch, gripe, screw, dole out, hold back, withhold, starve, famish, live upon nothing, skin a flint, drive a bargain, drive a hard bargain, cheapen, beat down, stop one hole in a sieve, have an itching palm, grasp, grab.

Fasting

VB fast, starve, clem, famish, perish with hunger, dine with Duke Humphrey, make two bites of a cherry.