Starve /(stärv)/

Starve

v. i.

imp. & p. p. Starved; p. pr. & vb. n. Starving

  1. To die; to perish. [Obs., except in the sense of perishing with cold or hunger.]
    In hot coals he hath himself raked . . . Thus starved this worthy mighty Hercules.
  2. To perish with hunger; to suffer extreme hunger or want; to be very indigent.
    Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed.
  3. To perish or die with cold.
    Have I seen the naked starve for cold?
    — Sandys.
    Starving with cold as well as hunger.

Starve

v. t.
  1. To destroy with cold. [Eng.]
    From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth.
  2. To kill with hunger; as, maliciously to starve a man is, in law, murder.
  3. To distress or subdue by famine; as, to starve a garrison into a surrender.
    Attalus endeavored to starve Italy by stopping their convoy of provisions from Africa.
  4. To destroy by want of any kind; as, to starve plants by depriving them of proper light and air.
  5. To deprive of force or vigor; to disable.
    The pens of historians, writing thereof, seemed starved for matter in an age so fruitful of memorable actions.
    The powers of their minds are starved by disuse.