famish

3 definitions found

famish - 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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  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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famish - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  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]