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.
Note: In this sense, still common in England, but rarely used
of the United States.
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.