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STARVING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of depriving of food or subjecting to famine
Example:
they were charged with the starvation of children in their care
Synonyms:
starvation; starving
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("starving" is a kind of...):
deprivation; privation (act of depriving someone of food or money or rights)
Derivation:
starve (deprive of food)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Suffering from lack of food
Synonyms:
starved; starving
Classified under:
Similar:
malnourished (not being provided with adequate nourishment)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb starve
Context examples:
The question now is whether we should take a premature lunch here, or run our chance of starving before we reach the buffet at Newhaven.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Dams also change the regime of flow in rivers downstream, and they trap sediments that carry nutrients, starving fish and other species.
(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)
In some cases, the deaths are a result of carbon starvation, in which trees close their pores, essentially starving themselves by blocking the entry of carbon, which is needed for photosynthesis.
(What's killing trees during droughts?, National Science Foundation)
Casks of choice wine had been rolled out from the cellars, and starving peasants squatted, goblet in hand, draining off vintages which De Rochefort had set aside for noble and royal guests.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
At the same time three ravens flew down to him, perched themselves upon his knee, and said: We are the three young ravens whom you saved from starving; when we had grown big, and heard that you were seeking the Golden Apple, we flew over the sea to the end of the world, where the Tree of Life stands, and have brought you the apple.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Therefore, it is very puzzling why there is a thin disk encircling a starving black hole in NGC 3147 that mimics much more powerful disks found in extremely active galaxies with engorged, monster black holes.
(Hubble Uncovers Black Hole Disk that Shouldn't Exist, NASA)
It was strictly enjoined, that the project of starving you by degrees should be kept a secret; but the sentence of putting out your eyes was entered on the books; none dissenting, except Bolgolam the admiral, who, being a creature of the empress, was perpetually instigated by her majesty to insist upon your death, she having borne perpetual malice against you, on account of that infamous and illegal method you took to extinguish the fire in her apartment.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Now he would continue on in this horrible house, writing and starving for a few more months.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Well, he's dead now and under hatches; but for two year before that, shiver my timbers, the man was starving!
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
“No starving now, Trotwood,” said Mr. Dick, shaking hands with me in a corner.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
