| 释义 |
famish, v.|ˈfæmɪʃ|
Forms: 5–6 famyssh, (5 -ysch, 6 -esh, -eszsh, -ishe, -issh, -ysh), 6– famish.
[alteration of fame v.2, after vbs. in -ish. Cf. affamish.]
1. trans. To reduce to the extremities of famine and hunger; to starve. Also, † to famish away.
a1400–50Alexander 1496 Þare suld my folk for defaute be famyscht for euire. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. ii. iii. 96 The other cartagiens that kepte the said townes..were famysshed. 1493Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 100 Tytus laye so sore to the cyte that he famysshed theym. 1535Coverdale Joel i. 20 The shepe are fameszshed awaye. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. iii. 175, I danc't attendance on his will Till Paris was besieg'd, famisht, and lost. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 91 Spinola before Breda..seeing no means to take it by force, resolved to famish it. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 250 The regicides whom he [Henry IV] hanged after he had famished Paris into a surrender. 1871R. Ellis Catullus xxi. 3 All..that shall ever in after years be famish'd.
fig.1546Supplic. of Poore Commons (E.E.T.S.) 64 They would famysh the soules of the residue. c1645Howell Lett. (1892) II. 379 Some Females..to feed their Pride..will famish Affection. c1766Burke Tracts Popery Laws Wks. 1842 II. 445 Whose quality it is to famish the present hours. 1817Shelley Pr. Athanase i. 38 Those false opinions which the harsh rich use To blind the world they famish for their pride.
2. To kill with hunger, starve to death. Also, to famish to death.
c1440Bone Flor. 875 So longe logyd the sege there, That they wythynne nere famysched were. a1533Ld. Berners Huon I. 169 He was nere famyshyd for lake of sustenaunce. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. I Wks. (1711) 5 Robert..had famished to death the king's brother David, in the castle of Falkland. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton vii. 130 We were in a most dreadful apprehension of being famished to death. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian vii, Paulo bewailed the probability of their being famished.
†b. To deprive (a person) of anything necessary to life. Obs. rare.
1667Milton P.L. xii. 78 Where thin Aire Above the Clouds will..famish him of Breath, if not of Bread.
3. intr.
a. To suffer the extremity of want of food; to be intensely hungry. Const. for.
1535Coverdale Isa. ix. 20 Yf a man do turne him to the right honde he shal famesh. 1607Shakes. Cor. i. i. 5 You are all resolu'd rather to dy then to famish. 1680Baxter Answ. Stillingfl. lxxiii. 93 They..reproach them as covetous that will rather beg than sin or famish. 1813Shelley Q. Mab iii. 104 Not one wretch Whose children famish..rears an arm. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. i, One of the most hungry mortals that ever yet famished.
fig.1844Browning Colombe's Birthday i. Poems 1887 II. 183 Sir Chynet, You famish for promotion.
†b. To die of starvation, perish from want of food. Also, to famish with hunger. to famish a dog's death. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 545/1, I famysshe for honger, je affame. 1551Crowley Pleas. & Pain 260 If the pore famyshed for lacke of fode. 1607Shakes. Timon ii. ii. 91 Thou shalt famish a Dogges death. 1670Milton Hist. Eng. v. (1851) 217 A small Iland where many of them famish'd. 1683Dryden Art. Poetry iv. 186 Now none famish who deserve to eat. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 118 They had all miserably famished with hunger.
Hence † ˈfamisher, one who famishes (sense 1); ˈfamishing vbl. n., ˈfamishing ppl. a.
1553Bale Gardiner's De vera Obed. B j, This hathe ben a famysher of the Kinges souldiours. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 21 It was imprenable but only by famyshynge. 1786Burke W. Hastings Wks. 1842 II. 126 Sundry documents concerning the famishing..of the women and children of the late sovereign. 1836W. Irving Astoria I. 16 Their stomachs injured by occasional famishing. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 174 Darius..shutteth vp Daniels enemies in the same denne, to bee torne in peeces by the famishing beastes. 1836W. Irving Astoria III. 77 The poor famishing wanderers. |