starve

Meaning

1. (intransitive) To die because of lack of food or of not eating.
2. (intransitive) To suffer severely because of lack of food or of not eating.
3. (intransitive) To be very hungry.
4. (transitive) To kill or attempt to kill by depriving of food.
5. (transitive) To make suffer severely by depriving of food.
6. (transitive) To force a combatant to submit or surrender by depriving of food, as in a targeted siege.
7. (dated, transitive) To force a population center to submit or surrender by depriving of food, as in sieges in international armed conflicts.
8. (transitive) To deprive of nourishment or of some vital component.
9. (intransitive) To deteriorate for want of any essential thing.
10. (British, transitive) To kill with cold; to (cause to) die from cold.
11. (intransitive, obsolete) To die; in later use especially to die slowly, waste away.

Synonyms

famish

hungry

hunger

go hungry

die of hunger

fast

be hungry

diet

starving

yearn

be starving

thirst

be famished

crave

discover

abstract

bare

clear

deprive

detect

abstain

expose

languish

lust

nick

peel

purloin

reduce

shell

🐚

skin

steal

strip

uncover

underfeed

become hungry

batten

pinch

pine away

go without food

half-starved

run dry

suffer want

thirst for

desire

deprive … of

be short of food

desiccate

tighten

to

go on a hunger strike

Translations

mourir de faim

verhungern

hungern

λιμοκτονώ

affamare

affamer

être affamé

hambrear

morir de hambre

esfomear

mourir

💀

faminto

fome

avere fame

Pronounced as (IPA)

/stɑːv/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: sterven

Inherited from Old English: steorfan

Cognate with Scots: sterve

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: stjerwa

Cognate with Western Frisian: stjerre

Cognate with Dutch: sterven

Cognate with German: sterben

Cognate with Icelandic: stirfinn

Cognate with Albanian: shterp

In summary

From Middle English sterven (“to die, perish”), from Old English steorfan (“to die, perish”), from Proto-West Germanic *sterban, from Proto-Germanic *sterbaną (“to become stiff, die”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terp- (“to lose strength, become numb, be motionless”); or from Proto-Indo-European *sterbʰ- (“to become stiff”), from *ster- (“stiff”); or a conflation of the aforementioned. Cognate with Scots stairve, sterve (“to die, perish, starve”), Saterland Frisian stjerwa (“to die”), West Frisian stjerre (“to die”), Dutch sterven (“to die”), German Low German starven (“to die”), German sterben (“to die”), Icelandic stirfinn (“peevish, froward”), Albanian shterp (“sterile, unproductive, barren land”).