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Entry 7 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Famish

· Fam·ish · IPA /ˈfamɪʃ/
01 v. t. To starve, kill, or destroy with hunger.
imp. & p. p. Famished; p. pr. & vb. n. Famishing
  1. 1.
    To starve, kill, or destroy with hunger.
  2. 2.
    To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to distress with hanger.
    “And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread.” — Cen. xli. 55.
    “The pains of famished Tantalus he'll feel.” — Dryden.
  3. 3.
    To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation or denial of anything necessary.
    “And famish him of breath, if not of bread.” — Milton.
  4. 4.
    To force or constrain by famine.
    “He had famished Paris into a surrender.” — Burke.
02 v. i. To die of hunger; to starve.
  1. 1.
    To die of hunger; to starve.
  2. 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?” — Shak.
  3. 3.
    To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary.
    “The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish.” — Prov. x. 3.