starve

• POS: Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• COUNT in NET: 1 in 1 verses (in OT : 1 in 1 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

starve, v. i. [OE. sterven to die, AS. steorfan; akin to D. sterven, G. sterben, OHG. sterban, Icel. starf labor, toil.].

•  To die; to perish.  Lydgate.  [1913 Webster]

  "In hot coals he hath himself raked . . .
  Thus starved this worthy mighty Hercules."  [1913 Webster]
•  To perish with hunger; to suffer extreme hunger or want; to be very indigent.  [1913 Webster]

  "Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed."  [1913 Webster]
•  To perish or die with cold.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

  " In this sense, still common in England, but rarely used in the United States."  [1913 Webster]

  "Have I seen the naked starve for cold?"  [1913 Webster]

  "Starving with cold as well as hunger."  [1913 Webster]

starve, v. t. 

•  To destroy with cold.  [1913 Webster]

  "From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice
  Their soft ethereal warmth."  [1913 Webster]
•  To kill with hunger; as, maliciously to starve a man is, in law, murder.  [1913 Webster]
•  To distress or subdue by famine; as, to starve a garrison into a surrender.  [1913 Webster]

  "Attalus endeavored to starve Italy by stopping their convoy of provisions from Africa."  [1913 Webster]
•  To destroy by want of any kind; as, to starve plants by depriving them of proper light and air.  [1913 Webster]
•  To deprive of force or vigor; to disable.  [1913 Webster]

  "The pens of historians, writing thereof, seemed starved for matter in an age so fruitful of memorable actions."  [1913 Webster]

  "The powers of their minds are starved by disuse."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

starve, v.
1 intr. die of hunger; suffer from malnourishment.
2 tr. cause to die of hunger or suffer from lack of food.
3 intr. suffer from extreme poverty.
4 intr. colloq. feel very hungry (I'm starving).
5 intr. a suffer from mental or spiritual want. b (foll. by for) feel a strong craving for (sympathy, amusement, knowledge, etc.).
6 tr. a (foll. by of) deprive of; keep scantily supplied with (starved of affection). b cause to suffer from mental or spiritual want.
7 tr. a (foll. by into) compel by starving (starved into submission). b (foll. by out) compel to surrender etc. by starving (starved them out).
8 intr. archaic or dial. perish with or suffer from cold.

Derivative

starvation n.

Etymology

OE steorfan die

THESAURUS

starve

OD, annihilate, asphyxiate, be in want, be killed, be pinched, be poor, be ravenous, begrudge, bereave of life, carry away, carry off, chloroform, choke, cut down, cut off, deprive of life, destroy, dispatch, dispose of, do away with, do for, do to death, drown, end, execute, exterminate, eye hungrily, famish, feel hungry, finish, finish off, go on welfare, grudge, have a tapeworm, hunger, hunger for, immolate, kill, lack, launch into eternity, liquidate, live upon nothing, lynch, make away with, martyr, martyrize, need, pinch, pinch pennies, poison, purge, put away, put down, put to death, put to sleep, raven, remove from life, sacrifice, scamp, scant, screw, scrimp, skimp, slay, smother, stint, strangle, suffocate, take life, take off, thirst, thirst for, want

ROGET THESAURUS

starve

Poverty

VB be poor, want, lack, starve, live from hand to mouth, have seen better days, go down in the world, come upon the parish, go to the dogs, go to wrack and ruin, not have a penny, not have a shot in one's locker, beg one's bread, tirer le diable par la queue, run into debt, render poor, impoverish, reduce, reduce to poverty, pauperize, fleece, ruin, bring to the parish.

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.

Cold

VB be cold, shiver, starve, quake, shake, tremble, shudder, didder, quiver, freeze, freeze to death, perish with cold, freeze, horripilate, make the skin crawl, give one goose flesh.

Refrigeration

VB cool, fan, refrigerate, refresh, ice, congeal, freeze, glaciate, benumb, starve, pinch, chill, petrify, chill to the marrow, regelate, nip, cut, pierce, bite, make one's teeth chatter, damp, slack quench, put out, stamp out, extinguish, go out, burn out (incombustibility).