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Famish   Listen
verb
Famish  v. i.  
1.
To die of hunger; to starve.
2.
To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in strength, or to come near to perish. "You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?"
3.
To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary. "The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Famish" Quotes from Famous Books



... numerous, some Gentlemen having Hundreds of them of all Sorts, to whom they bring great Profit; for the Sake of which they are obliged to keep them well, and not over-work, starve, or famish them, besides other Inducements to favour them; which is done in a great Degree, to such especially that are laborious, careful, and honest; tho' indeed some Masters, careless of their own Interest or Reputation, are too ...
— The Present State of Virginia • Hugh Jones

... Turn'd oft, retiring slow, and step by step. 660 As when the watch-dogs and assembled swains Have driven a tawny lion from the stalls, Then, interdicting him his wish'd repast, Watch all the night, he, famish'd, yet again Comes furious on, but speeds not, kept aloof 665 By frequent spears from daring hands, but more By flash of torches, which, though fierce, he dreads, Till, at the dawn, sullen he stalks away; So from before the Trojans Ajax stalk'd Sullen, and with reluctance slow retired. ...
— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer

... suffer'd many things—I heard foretold A dreadful doom for Pilate,—lingering woes, In far, barbarian climes, where mountains cold Built up a solitude of trackless snows, There he and grisly wolves prowl'd side by side, There he lived famish'd—there, ...
— Poems • (AKA Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte) Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

... As when a famish'd wolf, that all night long Had ranged the Alpine snows, by chance at morn Sees from a cliff, incumbent o'er the smoke Of some lone village, a neglected kid That strays along the wild for herb or spring; Down from the winding ridge he sweeps amain, And thinks he tears him: so with ...
— Poetical Works of Akenside - [Edited by George Gilfillan] • Mark Akenside

... yet put on His purple, green, and gold. But here the titling[5] spreads his wing, Where dewy daisies gleam; And here the sunflower[6] of the spring Burns bright in morning's beam. To mountain winds the famish'd fox Complains that Sol is slow, O'er headlong steeps and gushing rocks His royal robe to throw. But here the lizard seeks the sun Here coils, in light, the snake; And here the fire-tuft[7] hath begun Its ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, No. - 581, Saturday, December 15, 1832 • Various

... ample vale a mountain rose, 65 Low at its base her fainting form she throws; "And here, my child, (she cried, with panting breath) "Here let us wait the hour of ling'ring death: "This famish'd bosom can no more supply "The streams that nourish life, my babe must die! 70 "In vain I strive to cherish for thy sake "My failing strength; but when my heart-strings break, "When my chill'd bosom can no longer warm, "My stiff'ning arms no more enfold thy form, "Soft on ...
— Poems (1786), Volume I. • Helen Maria Williams

... self-conceived excellence. O, hadst thou known the worth of heaven's rich gift, Thou wouldst have turn'd it to a truer use, And not with starv'd and covetous ignorance, Pined in continual eyeing that bright gem, The glance whereof to others had been more, Than to thy famish'd mind the wide world's store: So wretched is it to be merely rich! Witness thy youth's dear sweets here spent untasted, Like a fair taper, with ...
— Cynthia's Revels • Ben Jonson

... some that live only in their palates, and in their sense of tasting shall drown the other four: others are only epicures in appearances, such who shall starve their nights to make a figure a days, and famish their own to feed the eyes of others: a contrary sort confine their pleasures to the dark, and contract their specious acres to the circuit of a ...
— The Beaux-Stratagem • George Farquhar

... insomuch that he promised to give her two hundred thousand Attic drachmae for one night's lodging; and when this would not prevail upon her, and he was not able to bear this misfortune in his amours, he thought it the best way to famish himself to death for want of food, on account of Paulina's sad refusal; and he determined with himself to die after such a manner, and he went on with his purpose accordingly. Now Mundus had a freed-woman, who had been made free by his father, whose name was Ide, one skillful in all sorts ...
— The Antiquities of the Jews • Flavius Josephus

... of travel do not greatly change one's nature. Either at Dearborn or Montreal, I am still Toinette. But, Messieurs, I have been told of a camp quite close at hand,—and yet you leave me here in the sand to famish while you quarrel." ...
— When Wilderness Was King - A Tale of the Illinois Country • Randall Parrish

... followed vain and idle hope. But when they saw that they were deceived, and neither met their parents nor any that they desired, but were compelled to undergo grievous sovereignty and command, and to endure cruel and extreme labour, they either slew themselves, or, choosing to famish, gave up their fair spirits, being persuaded by no reason or violence to take food. So these miserable Yucaians ...
— Froude's Essays in Literature and History - With Introduction by Hilaire Belloc • James Froude

... the administration of his province; that is to say, he returned in a short time with considerable military glory, and with money enough to pay all his debts, and famish him with means for ...
— History of Julius Caesar • Jacob Abbott

... streams and rills, And to their borders lifts them high; Or else withdraws The mighty cause, And leaves their famish'd channels dry. ...
— The Poetical Works of Edward Young, Volume 2 • Edward Young

... very high, where the ladder was too short by about six foot, and when friends would have given him a cord and basket to have taken up his victuals, he was denied thereof and could not be suffered to have it, though it was much desired, but he must either come up and down by that rope, or else famish in the hole, which he did a long time, before God suffered them to see their desires in which time much means was used about it, but their wills were unalterably set in cruelty towards him. But after long suffering in this hole, where there was ...
— A Book of Quaker Saints • Lucy Violet Hodgkin

... it is not proposed to introduce poverty as a constable to keep the peace. If our dominions abroad are the roots which feed all this rank luxuriance of sedition, it is not intended to cut them off in order to famish the fruit. If our liberty has enfeebled the executive power, there is no design, I hope, to call in the aid of despotism to fill up the deficiencies of law. Whatever may be intended, these things are not yet professed. We seem therefore to be driven to absolute despair, for we have no ...
— Thoughts on the Present Discontents - and Speeches • Edmund Burke

... famish'd Eagle on his pray, Incorporating his rude lips in hers, Sucking her balmey breath soft as he may: Which did more vigor, through his brest disperse, Such kisses louers vse at first conuerse. All parts were to that center drawne I wis, ...
— Seven Minor Epics of the English Renaissance (1596-1624) • Dunstan Gale

... ease and politeness, even to Strangers and Sharpers, than their Fathers did their Shillings to one another. As to any other Improvements, and particularly as to Learning, Virtue, or Piety, (which probably were over-look'd in the Account) they poor famish'd Devils, cou'd ...
— A Dialogue Between Dean Swift and Tho. Prior, Esq. • Anonymous

... "get on" was suddenly slackened; the determination to famish himself as far as Fondi by way of punishing the landlord was abandoned; John chose the best apartment in the inn for his master's reception, and preparations were made ...
— Tales of a Traveller • Washington Irving

... think? 'Tis Burgundy, Bourdeaux, real red rosy wine, Which you quaff at a draught, neat nectar, divine! Thus they pamper the taste with everything good And of an old shoe can make savoury food, But the worst of it is that when you have done You are nearly as famish'd as when you begun!" ...
— My Life as an Author • Martin Farquhar Tupper

... hard rift to stem, when the river is a little swelled; and five is an unnatural number to keep dry, in a hurry-skurry, with a little birchen bark and gum. There, go you all on the rock, and I will bring up the Mohicans with the venison. A man had better sleep without his scalp, than famish in the midst ...
— The Last of the Mohicans • James Fenimore Cooper

... your soul? for a closer walk with God? then live much in prayer. Do you desire to feel the holy flame of love burning in all its intensity in your soul? then enkindle it often at the golden altar of prayer. Without prayer, the inner being will weaken, famish, and die; the fountain of love dry up; the spring of joy cease to flow; the dews will fail to descend; and your heart will become a parched and dreary ...
— Food for the Lambs; or, Helps for Young Christians • Charles Ebert Orr

... hush'd the stormy main: Brave Urien sleeps upon his craggy bed: Mountains, ye mourn in vain Modred, whose magic song Made huge Plinlimmon bow his cloud-topt head. On dreary Arvon's shore they lie, Smear'd with gore, and ghastly pale: Far, far aloof the affrighted ravens sail; The famish'd eagle screams, and passes by. Dear lost companions of my tuneful art, Dear, as the light that visits these sad eyes, Dear, as the ruddy drops that warm my heart, Ye died amidst your dying country's cries— No more I weep. They do not sleep. On yonder cliffs, ...
— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education

... 'a l'abandon;' without which means they had all fallen into wild and shameful disorder, to her Majesty's great disgrace and overthrow of her service. I am compelled, unless I would see the poor men famish, and her Majesty dishonoured, to try my poor credit ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... night there fell a shower of rain, For which their mouths gaped, like the cracks of earth When dried to summer dust; till taught by pain Men really know not what good water 's worth; If you had been in Turkey or in Spain, Or with a famish'd boat's-crew had your berth, Or in the desert heard the camel's bell, You 'd wish yourself where Truth ...
— Don Juan • Lord Byron

... then no charms? Is there no joy, no gladness warms His aged heart? no happy wiles To cheat the hoary one to smiles? Onward he comes—the cruel North Pours his furious whirlwind forth Before him—and we breathe the breath Of famish'd bears that howl to death. Onward he comes from the rocks that blanch O'er solid streams that never flow: His tears all ice, his locks all snow, Just crept from some huge avalanche— A thing half-breathing ...
— The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood • Thomas Hood

... along the barren plain: Meagre and lank with fasting grown, And nothing left but skin and bone; Exposed to want, and wind, and weather, They just keep life and soul together, Till summer showers and evening's dew Again the verdant glebe renew; And, as the vegetables rise, The famish'd cow her want supplies; Without an ounce of last year's flesh; Whate'er she gains is young and fresh; Grows plump and round, and full of mettle, As rising from Medea's [1] kettle. With youth and beauty to enchant Europa's[2] counterfeit gallant. Why, Stella, should you knit your brow, ...
— Poems (Volume II.) • Jonathan Swift

... that hour I would have wish'd to die, If through the shudd'ring midnight I had sent From the dark dungeon of the tower time-rent, That fearful voice, a famish'd father's cry— ...
— Lectures on the English Poets - Delivered at the Surrey Institution • William Hazlitt

... other forces, whether they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers, things present or things to come, will also lend all their energies to the help of man. God does not aid in the lowest and leave us to ourselves in the highest. He does not feed the body and let the soul famish, does not help us to the meat that perishes and let us starve for ...
— Among the Forces • Henry White Warren

... Oh! Mahomet, on this important hour, And give at length my famish'd soul revenge! What is revenge, but courage to call in Our honour's debts, and wisdom to convert Others' self-love into our own protection? But see, the morning dawn breaks in upon us; I'll seek don Carlos, ...
— The Revenge - A Tragedy • Edward Young

... heart is hard as stone, No grief disturbs his selfish, sensual joy; His wife may weep, his starving children groan, And Poverty with cruel gripe annoy. He neither hears, nor heeds their famish'd moan, The glorious wine-cup owns no base alloy. Surrounded by a low, degraded train, His fiendish laugh defiance bids to pain; He hugs the cup—more dear than friends to him— Nor sees stern ruin from the goblet ...
— Life in the Clearings versus the Bush • Susanna Moodie

... those distinctions of caste and systems of labor which so degrade and famish masses of human beings, that the divine miracle of the feeding of the five thousand must be multiplied many times over before the truths of nature or revelation can be received into teachable minds or susceptible hearts? And who shall answer for the hereditary ...
— Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions • George S. Boutwell

... down could, if he were a true husband and father, place you in a position of comfort and respectability, but who was devouring from you and your children food that you had earned by the most menial drudgery—by the sweat of body and brain—and leaving you all to nearly famish for bread, would you not remonstrate? Nay, would not feelings of outraged confidence, of soul-anguish, sorrow, and shame coin themselves into bitter chiding words which you ...
— From Wealth to Poverty • Austin Potter

... possession of them, and take no satisfaction in dying but living rich. For since thy good works, not thy goods will follow thee; since riches are an appurtenance of life, and no dead man is rich, to famish in plenty, and live poorly to die rich, were a multiplying im- provement in madness and use upon ...
— Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend • Sir Thomas Browne

... event of a siege their safety would only be temporary. With their scant water supply at a distance and unprotected they could not hold out long in a siege, but would soon be compelled either to fight, fly or famish. ...
— Arizona Sketches • Joseph A. Munk

... Demeter give grain to men; no more did she bless their fields: weeds grew where grain had been growing, and men feared that in a while they would famish ...
— The Golden Fleece and the Heroes who Lived Before Achilles • Padraic Colum

... mothers and maidens are digging up the soil with the spade, and often pulling up the stubble with their hands, preparatory to another crop. Switzerland could not afford to be a Kingdom,—the expense of a Court and Royal Family would famish half her people. Yet everywhere are the signs of frugal thrift and homely content. I met only two beggars in that long day's ride through sterile Switzerland, while in a similar ride through the fertile plains of ...
— Glances at Europe - In a Series of Letters from Great Britain, France, Italy, - Switzerland, &c. During the Summer of 1851. • Horace Greeley

... taken from the French, and exhibited them to the people, that the latter might derive courage from the sight of their weakness; and yet he emptied Moscow of every kind of supplies, in order to feed the vanquished and to famish the conquerors. This measure was easily carried into effect, as Moscow was provisioned in spring and autumn by water only, and in ...
— The Two Great Retreats of History • George Grote

... tomb Check'd him, who thought the world too straight a room. Have I obey'd the powers of face, A beauty able to undo the race Of easy man? I look but here, and straight I am inform'd, the lovely counterfeit Was but a smoother clay. That famish'd slave Beggar'd by wealth, who starves that he may save, Brings hither but his sheet; nay, th' ostrich-man That feeds on steel and bullet, he that can Outswear his lordship, and reply as tough To a kind word, ...
— Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist, Volume II • Henry Vaughan

... and still have been, From the first day I saw those beauteous eyes, Which alter'd of my life the natural mood? Traverse all lands, explore each sea between, Who can acquire all human qualities? There some on odours live by Ind's vast flood; Here light and fire are food My frail and famish'd spirit to appease! Love! more or nought bestow; With lordly state low thrift but ill agrees; Thou hast thy darts and bow, Take with thy hands my not unwilling breath, Life were well ...
— The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch • Petrarch

... that fear Him lack nothing," and again (xlv. 23), "O cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will nourish thee." In the books that deal with Wisdom we have (Proverbs x. 3) "The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish." In the Prophets (Isai i. 19), "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." In the Gospels (S. Matt. vi. 33), "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." In the Epistles (Pet. v. 7), "Cast all your ...
— The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent • S. Baring-Gould

... my wrong, the more his spite appears. What, did he marrie me to famish me? Beggers that come vnto my fathers doore, Vpon intreatie haue a present almes, If not, elsewhere they meete with charitie: But I, who neuer knew how to intreat, Nor neuer needed that I should intreate, Am staru'd for meate, giddie ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... olive branch to her: Her lamp burned dimly, yet its flick'ring light, Guided the wanderer thro' the lengthen'd night. Oft in her weary search, she paused the while, To catch one gleam of hope—one favour'd smile; But the dim mists of ignorance still threw, Their blighting influence o'er the famish'd few, Who deigned to look upon that lustrous eye, Which ...
— Forty Centuries of Ink • David N. Carvalho

... not cloy thy lips with loath'd satiety, But rather famish them amid their plenty, 20 Making them red and pale with fresh variety; Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty: A summer's day will seem an hour but short, Being wasted ...
— Venus and Adonis • William Shakespeare

... to! It is written that Man was given dominion over birds and beasts and fishes, and all things made, yet how doth Man, in all his pride, compare with even a little mountain? And, as to birds and beasts and fishes, they provide for themselves, day in and day out, while Man doth starve and famish! To what end is Man born but to work, beget his kind, and die? O Man! lift up thy dull-sighted eyes—behold the wonder of the world, and the infinite universe about thee; behold thyself, and see thy many failings and imperfections, and thy stupendous littleness ...
— The Broad Highway • Jeffery Farnol

... kinder warms, While fragrance blooms and beauty charms, When wretches range, in famish'd swarms, The scented groves; Or, hounded forth, dishonour arms ...
— Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns • Robert Burns

... Richard, "a sturdy and faithful yeoman! It were better send such fellows their dinners, and then buffet it out with them for the castle, than to starve them as the beggarly Frenchmen famish ...
— The Betrothed • Sir Walter Scott

... in the gems of India's gaudy zone, And plunder piled from kingdoms not their own, Degenerate trade! thy minions could despise Thy heart-born anguish of a thousand cries: Could lock, with impious hands, their teeming store, While famish'd nations died along the shore; Could mock the groans of fellow-men, and bear The curse of kingdoms, peopled with despair; Could stamp disgrace on man's polluted name, And barter ...
— Newton Forster • Frederick Marryat

... submit To foam and champ the galling bit? Shall haughty man my back bestride? Shall the sharp spur provoke my side? Forbid it, heavens! reject the rein; Your shame, your infamy, disdain. Let him the lion first control, And still the tiger's famish'd growl. Let us, like them, our freedom claim, And make him tremble at our name.' A general nod approv'd the cause, And all the circle neigh'd applause. When, lo! with grave and solemn pace, A steed advanc'd before the race, With age and long experience wise; Around he cast ...
— The Children's Garland from the Best Poets • Various

... moving, even as in the heavens So in the earth, to this day is not known: Late did he shine upon the English side; Now we are victors; upon us he smiles. What towns of any moment but we have? At pleasure here we lie near Orleans; Otherwhiles the famish'd English, like pale ghosts, Faintly besiege us one hour ...
— King Henry VI, First Part • William Shakespeare [Aldus edition]

... every day amongst ourselves to keep them from starving."[2265] Only too thankful are they when the local administration gives them something to eat, or allows others to give them something. In many places it strives to famish them, or takes delight in annoying them. In March, 1791, the department of Doubs, in spite of the entreaties of the district, reduces the pension of the Visitant nuns to one hundred and one livres for the choristers, and fifty for ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 1 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... only a woman famish'd for loving. Mad with devotion and such slight things. And he was a very great musician And used to finger his ...
— Melomaniacs • James Huneker

... must be relied on to defend Richmond. These men are mainly clerks and employees of the departments, who have just been insulted by the government, being informed that no increased compensation will be allowed them because they are able to bear arms. In other words, they must famish for subsistence, and their families with them, because they happen to be of fighting age, and have been patriotic enough to volunteer for the defense of the government, and have drilled, and paraded, and marched, until they are pronounced good soldiers. ...
— A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital • John Beauchamp Jones

... desired again they would approve of his good intent, and not seek to dehort him from it:" and so constantly died, precesque eorum taciturna sua obstinatione depressit. Even so did Corellius Rufus, another grave senator, by the relation of Plinius Secundus, epist. lib. 1. epist. 12. famish himself to death; pedibus correptus cum incredibiles cruciatus et indignissima tormenta pateretur, a cibis omnino abstinuit; [2768]neither he nor Hispilla his wife could divert him, but destinatus mori obstinate magis, &c. die he would, and die he did. So did Lycurgus, ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior

... reminded me of Naphtali, which, indeed, had something to do with my attachment for him. My relations toward him echoed with the feelings I used to have for the reticent, omniscient boy of Abner's Court, and with the hoarse, studious young Talmudist with whom I would "famish in company." He had neither Naphtali's brains nor his individuality, yet I looked up to him and was somewhat ...
— The Rise of David Levinsky • Abraham Cahan

... For though an Inheritance after this manner may be hastily gotten at the beginning, yet the end thereof shall not be blessed. They gather it indeed, and think to keep it too, but what says Solomon? God casteth it away. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish, but he casteth away ...
— The Life and Death of Mr. Badman • John Bunyan

... longed to see more of her, to drink his fill of her beauty and fix her image in his memory that he might not famish in his loneliness during the dreary winter months when ...
— A Man of Two Countries • Alice Harriman

... sober, retiring man becomes suddenly mad, breaks the plates, upsets the table, shrieks, raves, and shocks everybody—and finally withdraws, ashamed, and raging at himself—whither? for what purpose? To famish apart? To suffocate with his memories?—To him who has the desires of a lofty and dainty soul, and only seldom finds his table laid and his food prepared, the danger will always be great—nowadays, however, it is extraordinarily so. ...
— Beyond Good and Evil • Friedrich Nietzsche

... Sometimes what love in death would be! Easier to love, we so should find. It is than to be just and kind. She's gone: shut close the coffin-lid: What distance for another did That death has done for her! The good Once gazed upon with heedless mood, Now fills with tears the famish'd eye, And turns all else to vanity. 'Tis sad to see, with death between, The good we have pass'd and have not seen! How strange appear the words of all! The looks of those that live appal. They are the ghosts, ...
— The Victories of Love - and Other Poems • Coventry Patmore

... way? Have I spent so much labour for you to provide, And you nothing regard what of me may betide? Have I run with you while I was able to go, And now you purchase food for yourself and no mo? Have I taken so long pain you truly to serve, And can ye be content, that I famish and starve? I must lacquey and come lugging greyhound and hound, And carry the weight, I dare say, of twenty pound, And to help his hunger purchase grace and favour, And now to be shut out fasting for my labour! By my faith, I may ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. II • Robert Dodsley

... slipped out of hiding-places, thinking to preserve wretched life a day longer, though experience declared that numbers of them must perish, even on that night, so that beasts of prey might not famish. So throughout the whole world reigned cross-purposes everywhere. Each wished that which filled others with terror; each begged for his own good, without asking if he did harm to the ...
— The Pharaoh and the Priest - An Historical Novel of Ancient Egypt • Boleslaw Prus

... to his native shore— In horrid climes, where Chiloe's tempests sweep Tumultuous murmurs o'er the troubled deep, 'Twas his to mourn misfortune's rudest shock, Scourg'd by the winds, and cradled on the rock, To wake each joyless morn and search again The famish'd haunts ...
— The Book-Hunter at Home • P. B. M. Allan

... Irish or of Irish descent. And these poor hand-loom weavers, first to suffer from every crisis, and last to be relieved from it, must serve the bourgeoisie as a handle in meeting attacks upon the factory system. "See," cries the bourgeois, triumphantly, "see how these poor creatures must famish, while the mill operatives are thriving, and then judge the factory {140} system!" As though it were not precisely the factory system and the machinery belonging to it which had so shamefully crushed the hand-loom weavers, and as though the bourgeoisie did not ...
— The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 - with a Preface written in 1892 • Frederick Engels

... the soul by his neglect, and unkind treatment, actually resolved to famish herself; and injured her health by the attempt; though she had not sufficient resolution to adhere to her project, or renounce it entirely. Death came not at her call; yet sorrow, and the methods she adopted to conceal her condition, still doing the work of a house-maid, ...
— Posthumous Works - of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman • Mary Wollstonecraft



Words linked to "Famish" :   snuff it, pass, hunger, conk, buy the farm, expire, pass away, be full, kick the bucket, drop dead, starve, perish, exit, deprive, give-up the ghost, pop off, feed, croak, die, go, cash in one's chips



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