Starve (?), v. i. [imp. & p.
p. Starved (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Starving.] [OE. sterven to die, AS. steorfan;
akin to D. sterven, G. sterben, OHG. sterban,
Icel. starf labor, toil.] 1. To die; to
perish. [Obs., except in the sense of perishing with cold or
hunger.] Lydgate.
In hot coals he hath himself raked . . .
Thus starved this worthy mighty Hercules.
Chaucer.
2. To perish with hunger; to suffer extreme
hunger or want; to be very indigent.
Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is
fed.
Pope.
3. To perish or die with cold.
Spenser.
Have I seen the naked starve for
cold?
Sandys.
Starving with cold as well as
hunger.
W. Irving.
☞ In this sense, still common in England, but rarely used of
the United States.
Starve, v. t. 1. To
destroy with cold. [Eng.]
From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice
Their soft ethereal warmth.
Milton.
2. To kill with hunger; as, maliciously to
starve a man is, in law, murder.
3. To distress or subdue by famine; as, to
starvea garrison into a surrender.
Attalus endeavored to starve Italy by stopping
their convoy of provisions from Africa.
Arbuthnot.
4. To destroy by want of any kind; as, to
starve plans 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.
Fuller.
The powers of their minds are starved by
disuse.
Locke.