Lexic.us

Definition of Famish

1. Verb. Be hungry; go without food. "Let's eat--I'm starving!"

2. Verb. Deprive of food. "They starved the prisoners"

3. Verb. Die of food deprivation. "Many famished in the countryside during the drought"

Definition of Famish

1. v. t. To starve, kill, or destroy with hunger.

2. v. i. To die of hunger; to starve.

Definition of Famish

1. Verb. (obsolete transitive) To starve (to death); to kill or destroy with hunger. ¹

2. Verb. (transitive) To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to distress with hunger. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive) To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation or denial of anything necessary. ¹

4. Verb. (transitive) To force or constrain by famine. ¹

5. Verb. (intransitive) To die of hunger; to starve. ¹

6. Verb. (intransitive) To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in strength, or to come near to perish. ¹

7. Verb. (intransitive) To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Famish

1. to suffer extreme hunger [v -ED, -ING, -ES]

Medical Definition of Famish

1. 1. To starve, kill, or destroy with hunger. 2. To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to distress with hanger. "And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread." (Cen. Xli. 55) "The pains of famished Tantalus he'll feel." (Dryden) 3. To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation or denial of anything necessary. "And famish him of breath, if not of bread." (Milton) 4. To force or constrain by famine. "He had famished Paris into a surrender." (Burke) Origin: OE. Famen; cf. OF. Afamer, L. Fames. See Famine, and cf. Affamish. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Famish

family values family way familyish familyless familylessness familylike familymoon familymoons famine famine dropsy

famine fever famine resistant faminelike famines faming famish (current term) famished famishedly famishes famishing

famishment famishments famisht famosity famotidine famotine hydrochloride famous famous last words famous person famoused

Literary usage of Famish

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Chronological History of the West Indies by Thomas Southey (1827)
"... a fraudulent manumission would be perfectly needless; for he might much more privately famish him in his servile state, by confining him to the ..."

2. Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events of the Year (1888)
"... popular in republican Paris, though the French people remembered with gratitude that he was one <>i the first to procure provisions for the famish«. ..."

3. Decisions of the Court of Session: From the Year 1733 to the Year 1754 ...by Scotland Court of Session, Patrick Grant Elchies, William Maxwell Morison by Scotland Court of Session, Patrick Grant Elchies, William Maxwell Morison (1813)
"SCOTT of famish against THE Lords found unanimously, (me referente for advice,) that a cau- ... famish ..."

4. Cobbett's Political Registerby William Cobbett by William Cobbett (1806)
"... thai, from some cause or ut'ner ; from some combination of pi^misen events, such as no philosophy can explain, and no history famish аи example of, ..."

5. Glossary of Terms and Phrases by Henry Percy Smith (1883)
"Piny famish (qv ), Punic language. The language of the Carthaginians, differing little from the Hebrew. Punic Wars. The wars between Rome and Carthage, ..."

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