from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
famish
v 1: be hungry; go without food; "Let's eat--I'm starving!"
[syn: {starve}, {hunger}, {famish}] [ant: {be full}]
2: deprive of food; "They starved the prisoners" [syn: {starve},
{famish}] [ant: {feed}, {give}]
3: die of food deprivation; "The political prisoners starved to
death"; "Many famished in the countryside during the drought"
[syn: {starve}, {famish}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Famish \Fam"ish\, v. i.
1. To die of hunger; to starve.
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2. To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted
in strength, or to come near to perish.
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You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?
--Shak.
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3. To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential
or necessary.
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The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous
to famish. --Prov. x. 3.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Famish \Fam"ish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Famished}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Famishing}.] [OE. famen; cf. OF. afamer, L. fames. See
{Famine}, and cf. {Affamish}.]
1. To starve, kill, or destroy with hunger. --Shak.
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2. To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to
distress with hanger.
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And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the
people cried to Pharaoh for bread. --Cen. xli.
55.
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The pains of famished Tantalus he'll feel. --Dryden.
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3. To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation
or denial of anything necessary.
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And famish him of breath, if not of bread. --Milton.
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4. To force or constrain by famine.
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He had famished Paris into a surrender. --Burke.
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