hungern.
/ˈhʌŋɡə/, U.S. /ˈhəŋɡər/ 1.
a. The uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite. Also: the exhausted condition caused by want of food.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > [noun]
hungerc825
appetite1303
famec1515
sharpness1581
suction1615
meat-will1643
sucking1656
sharpsetness1673
esurition1678
stomach-worm1788
hunger-pain1820
yird-hunger1825
appetizement1826
yapness1828
esuriencea1834
peckishness1871
sinking feeling1890
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > [noun] > starvation or action of starving
hungerc825
faminec1405
pininga1450
famishmentc1470
famishing1490
starving1549
pine1567
affamishment1588
hunger-starving1592
starvation1762
clemming1773
starvation1775
c825 Vesp. Psalter lviii. 15 [lix. 14] Hungur ðrowiað.
OE Crist III 1660 Nis þær hungor ne þurst, slæp ne swar leger.
c1050 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 172/3 Fames, uel popina, hunger.
1154 Anglo-Saxon Chron. ann. 1137 ⁋3 Wrecce men sturuen of hungær.
a1200 Moral Ode 231 On helle is vnger & þerst.
c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 2/54 For strong hounguer he criede loude.
a1400–50 Alexander 4608 Ȝe bot fede ȝow with frute at flays noȝt ȝoure hongir.
c1480 (a1400) St. Peter 88 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 9 Till ner for hungyre þe gaste he ȝalde.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Ci What nedeth meate there, wher shalbe no hunger?
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 35 After that he would never eate nor drinke, but pyned away for hunger and sorow.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 836 Very patient of labour and hunger, feasting if they have where~with..and fasting other-whiles.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest I. ii. 51 A repast, which hunger and fatigue made delicious.
1859 E. Bulwer-Lytton What will he do with It? (1st Edinb. ed.) I. i. iii. 28 I have the hunger of a wolf.
b. Personified or represented as an agent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > [noun] > personified
hungerOE
OE Andreas (1932) 1087 Þa wearð forht manig for þam færspelle folces ræswa, hean, hygegeomor, hungres on wenum, blates beodgastes.
1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. vii. 288 Fedde hunger ȝeorne With good Ale.
1393 W. Langland Piers Plowman C. ix. 177 Honger have mercy of hem, and lete me geve hem benes.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 862 Some perishing in the devouring jawes of the Ocean, and others in their selfe-devouring Mawes of Hunger.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 125 Hunger is a much more powerful enemy to man than watchfulness, and kills him much sooner.
1894 H. Drummond Lowell Lect. Ascent of Man 251 The parent of all industries is Hunger.
c. Proverbs.
ΚΠ
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. xii. sig. Eivv Some saie, and I feele hungre perseth stone wall.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde ii. iii. f. 62v Hunger is the best sauce.
1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 262 Hunger breaketh stone-walls, and hard neede makes the old wife trotte.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. i. 204 They said they were an hungry, sigh'd forth Prouerbes That Hunger-broke stone wals. View more context for this quotation
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 12 Had they not so good a sauce as hunger.
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 35 Hunger knows no Friend.
2. Want or scarcity of food in a country, etc.; dearth; famine. Obsolete or archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > [noun] > scarcity of food or famine
hungerc1000
dear1297
deartha1325
fault1340
famine1362
barrennessa1425
affaminea1450
enfaminea1450
wantc1450
scarceness1481
Lang Reeda1525
famishment1526
cleanness of teeth1560
breadlessness1860
c1000 Ælfric Genesis xli. 30 Hunger fondeþ ealle eorþan.
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xxiv. 7 Mann-cwealmas beoð and hungras..and eorþan styrunga.
a1046 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (MS. C) ann. 976 On þys geare wæs se miccla hungor on Angel cynne.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2150 Ghe ðer him two childer bar, Or men wurð of ðat hunger war.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 441 In his dayes fil a greet honger in þe lond of Israel.
1480 W. Caxton Chron. Eng. cii. (1482) 83 The englyssh peple that were escaped the grete honger and mortalyte.
1559 Certayne Serm. (new ed.) Swearing ii, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) i. 78 God..sent an universal hunger upon the whole country.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. iv. 147 These calamities began with hunger.
1847 W. E. Forster in T. W. Reid Life W. E. Forster (1888) I. vi. 196 When we entered a village [in Ireland] our first question was, ‘How many deaths?’ ‘The hunger has been there’, was everywhere the cry.
3. transferred and figurative. Strong desire or craving.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > strong or eager desire > [noun] > craving
thirstc1175
hungriness1530
dropsy1548
hunger1548
hungriousness1549
appetite1605
hungering1638
bulimia1639
craving1692
letch1796
crave1830
1548 Hall's Vnion: Richard III f. xlvv That cursed hungre of golde and execrable thirst of lucre.
1656 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age i. i. ii. 4 The insatiable hunger of mony hath vayled..their understanding.
1860 ‘G. Eliot’ Mill on Floss I. i. v. 64 This need of love—this hunger of the heart.
1880 Ld. Tennyson Battle of Brunanburh xv Earls that were lured by the Hunger of glory.
1888 J. Ruskin Præterita III. i. 43 A fit took me of hunger for city life again.
1897 Daily News 24 Sept. 8/3 This so-called ‘land hunger’ might prevail in parts of Ireland where the possession of a small piece of land was absolutely necessary.
Compounds
C1. General attributive. Of, belonging to, connected with, or characteristic of hunger.
hunger-den n.
ΚΠ
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iii. ii. 201 The Atheist world, from its utmost summits of Heaven and Westminster Hall..down to the lowest cellars and neglected hunger-dens of it, is very wretched.
hunger-pinch n.
ΚΠ
1855 R. Browning Fra Lippo Lippi in Men & Women I. 41 Admonitions from the hunger-pinch.
hunger-wolf n.
hunger-world n.
hunger-worm n.
ΚΠ
1614 T. Adams Diuells Banket i. 8 Hath any Gentleman the hunger-worme of Couetousnesse?
C2. Instrumental.
a.
hunger-beaten adj.
ΚΠ
1606 J. Reynolds Dolarnys Primerose (1880) 87 Because, that I was hunger-beaten, I chaw'd a bit.
hunger-driven adj.
ΚΠ
a1618 J. Sylvester Hymn St. Lewis 489 In rags, and hunger-driven.
1895 Westm. Gaz. 11 Feb. 5/2 The fearlessness of the hunger-driven birds.
hunger-greedy adj.
ΚΠ
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 373 Satisfying his hunger-greedy appetite.
hunger-mad adj.
ΚΠ
1805 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Inferno I. i. 44 With his head held aloft and hunger-mad.
hunger-pinched adj.
ΚΠ
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre i. viii. 11 Being well hunger-pincht..[he] ran away from the rest of the Christians.
hunger-pressed adj.
ΚΠ
a1759 W. Collins in Trans. Royal Soc. Edinb. (1788) 1 ii. 73 Hunger-prest, Along th' Atlantic rock undreading climb.
hunger-stricken adj.
hunger-stung adj.
hunger-worn adj.
ΚΠ
1838 C. Dickens Oliver Twist II. xxiii. 48 Many hunger-worn outcasts close their eyes in our bare streets.
b.
hunger-pine v.
ΚΠ
1610 R. Davies Chesters Triumph sig. C3v A rich man hunger-pin'd with want.
C3. Objective.
hunger-giving adj.
C4. Parasynthetic.
hunger-gutted adj.
ΚΠ
1647 R. Stapleton tr. Juvenal Sixteen Satyrs 67 Art thou with th' injury of a meale so tooke? So hunger-gutted?
hunger-paunched adj.
ΚΠ
1598 S. Rowlands Betraying of Christ 11 Like hunger-paunched wolues prone to deuour The lambe.
C5. † hunger-bane n. Obsolete death by hunger, starvation.† hunger-baned adj. Obsolete starved.† hunger-bedrip n. Obsolete a kind of bedrip (bedrip n.) or harvest service at which the lord gave the tenants food.† hunger-bond n. Obsolete necessity arising from famine.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > manner of death > [noun] > death from hunger
hunger-bane1607
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice i. 3 Nor..that they..for lacke of strength die with hunger-bane.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > manner of death > [adjective] > from hunger
hunger-baned1549
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. 1 Cor. iv. f. xiiv We beyng there were hungerbaned and famyshed.
ΚΠ
c1300 Custumals Battle-Abbey (Camden) 54 Ad quartam precariam, quod vocatur Hunger~bedrip.
hunger-belt n. a belt worn round the abdomen, and continually tightened to alleviate the pangs of hunger.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > belt or sash > types of > for specific purpose
call belt1686
hunger-belt1846
waist-scarf1853
suicide belt1974
1846 J. L. Stokes Discov. Austral. II. xii. 395 Mr. Pasco..had obtained from them a hunger belt, composed of wallaby furs.
1865 Daily Tel. 21 Dec. 7/1 'Tis a device of savages to cheat an empty stomach, and is called ‘the hunger belt’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > [noun] > scarcity of food or famine > necessity arising from famine
hunger-bonda1325
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 763 Ðeden for he for hunger-bond Feger ut in-to egipte lond.
hunger bread n. a substitute for bread, made of bark, acorns, or other poor materials, sometimes eaten in times of scarcity.
ΚΠ
1906 Westm. Gaz. 12 Dec. 7/3 Where hunger bread is eaten there also is found scurvy and typhoid.
hunger-cure n. treatment of disease by fasting.
ΚΠ
1848 R. Dunglison Med. Lexicon (ed. 7) Hunger-cure.
hunger-flower n. a species of Whitlow-grass, Draba incana, so called because it grows in ‘hungry’ soils ( Cent. Dict.).
hunger-grass n. the grass Alopecurus agrestis: see hunger-weed n.
hunger-house n. a place in which cattle are kept for some time before being slaughtered; a pining-house.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal enclosure or house general > [noun] > enclosure > pre-slaughtering enclosure
pining-house1802
hunger-house1839
pining-lair1893
1839 G. Taylor Mem. Surtees in Surtees' Durham IV. 69 He went instantly to the hunger-house, and set it at liberty.
1893 Whitby Gaz. 3 Nov. 3/6 In two instances the pining-lairs or hunger~houses are within the shops or open directly into them.
hunger-march n. a march, undertaken usually by the unemployed, in order to call attention to their needs and claims.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun] > walk with specific purpose
walk1608
bird walk1887
hunger-march1908
protest march1914
padayatra1956
charity walk1983
1908 Westm. Gaz. 16 July 10/3 A statement of the purpose of the ‘Hunger March’.
1939 N. Monsarrat This is Schoolroom i. 33 Hunger-marches, May Day processions..they were all new.
1972 M. Jones Life on Dole i. i. 11 Among the older people, there was grave talk of the days of mass unemployment and the Hunger Marches.
hunger-marcher n.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > rebelliousness > militancy > [noun] > militant person > protester or demonstrator > types of protester or demonstrator
counterprotester1863
hunger-marcher1908
peace marcher1918
sit-downer1936
sit-inner1936
protest marcher1947
sitter1960
freedom rider1961
sit-in1961
sitter-in1961
live-in1964
protest singer1966
1908 Westm. Gaz. 16 July 10/3 He had no knowledge the ‘Hunger Marchers’ were coming there that day.
1922 Westm. Gaz. 29 Dec. Unemployed hunger marchers are persisting in their determination to see the Prime Minister.
1950 A. Koestler in R. Crossman God that Failed i. 28 Europe trembled under the torn boots of hunger-marchers.
hunger-pain n. pain due to hunger; also Pathology (see quot. 1905).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > [noun]
hungerc825
appetite1303
famec1515
sharpness1581
suction1615
meat-will1643
sucking1656
sharpsetness1673
esurition1678
stomach-worm1788
hunger-pain1820
yird-hunger1825
appetizement1826
yapness1828
esuriencea1834
peckishness1871
sinking feeling1890
1820 J. Keats Isabella in Lamia & Other Poems 78 Seldom felt she any hunger-pain.
1905 B. G. A. Moynihan in Lancet 11 Feb. 341/1 If the pain does not come on for from two to four hours after a meal..the patient will often complain of what I have been accustomed to call ‘hunger pain’.
1943 E. Bowen Seven Winters 25 The vacuum, the hunger-pain, set up in me from being unable to read.
hunger-rot n. †(a) a disease in cattle resulting from scanty feeding; (b) a miserly wretch (dialect).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of cattle > [noun] > dietary disorders
dew-bolne?1523
hunger-rot?1523
grass-sick1607
grain-sick1834
hoove1840
grass staggers1858
bloat1878
wobbles1886
grain-founder1890
blowing1891
veld sickness1896
corn-stalk disease1900
cattle-sickness1903
Molteno disease1911
grass tetany1931
the mind > possession > retaining > niggardliness or meanness > [noun] > niggard or mean person > miser or hoarder of wealth
chinch?a1300
wretch1303
chincher1333
muckererc1390
mokerarda1400
muglard1440
gatherer?a1513
hoarder?a1513
warner1513
hardhead1519
snudge1545
cob1548
snidge1548
muckmonger1566
mucker1567
miser?1577
scrape-penny1584
money-miser1586
gromwell-gainer1588
muckscrape1589
muckworm1598
scrib1600
muckraker1601
morkin-gnoff1602
scrape-scall1602
incubo1607
accumulator1611
gripe-money1611
scrape-good1611
silver-hider1611
gripe1621
scrapeling1629
clutch1630
scrape-pelfa1640
volpone1672
spare-penny1707
save-all1729
bagger1740
spare-thrift1803
money-codger1818
hunger-rot1828
muckrake1850
muckthrift1852
gripe-penny1860
hugger-mugger1862
Scrooge1940
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxiiiiv Also hunger-rote is the worst rote that can be..and..maketh for lacke of meate And so for hunger they eate suche as they canne fynde.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 140 Agaynst the winter rotte, or hunger rotte, you must prouide to feede them at home in Cratches.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Hunger-rot, a penurious, griping wretch.
hunger strike n. the action of a person, esp. a prisoner, who refuses food in order to induce someone to yield to his demands.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > rebelliousness > militancy > [noun] > protest > by abstention from specific activity
strike1889
hunger strike1908
1908 Westm. Gaz. 18 Mar. 5/1 The Central Prisons Administration has circularised the provincial Governors regarding the so-called ‘hunger strikes’, which are a characteristic feature of Russian prison life.
1916 W. J. Locke Wonderful Year xvii. 247 ‘I've been to prison.’ Martin.. asked if she hunger-struck.
1937 A. Koestler Spanish Test. ii. 333 I had intended to stop my hunger strike as soon as my letter to the Consul had been sent off.
1970 Times 11 May 8/4 In February Feron went on hunger strike in protest but was taken ill and for a month existed only on drugs.
1973 Jewish Chron. 19 Jan. 44/5 He will stage a 48-hour hunger strike outside the Soviet Embassy.
hunger-strike v. intransitive to go on hunger strike.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > fasting > fast [verb (intransitive)] > hunger-strike
hunger-strike1889
1889 Cent. Mag. Nov. 107/2 Here I heard..the narrative of the hunger-strike of the four women in the prison of Irkutsk.
1903 H. Chisholm tr. L. Deutsch Sixteen Years in Siberia 78 Upon these conditions I consented not to prolong my ‘hunger-strike’.
1914 E. Pankhurst & R. C. Dorr My Own Story iii. v. 292 She has hunger-struck in prison. She submitted herself for more than five weeks to the horrible ordeal of feeding by force.
hunger-striker n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > fasting > [noun] > hunger-striking > one who
hunger-striker1922
1922 Blackwood's Mag. Aug. 146/1 He gave his orders for the release of the hunger-strikers.
1972 Guardian 1 Dec. 12/1 Already the names of McSwiney and MacCaughey, hunger-strikers of an earlier era, are being conjured up.
hunger-striking n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > fasting > [noun] > hunger-striking
hunger strike1889
hunger-striking1916
society > authority > lack of subjection > rebelliousness > militancy > [noun] > demonstration > types of demonstration or protest > action of
hunger-striking1916
sitting in1961
1916 W. J. Locke Wonderful Year xxiii. 329 Her duties involved incendiarism, imprisonment, and hunger-striking.
hunger swarm n. the swarming of bees caused by lack of food.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > superfamily Apoidea (bees) > swarm of bees > caused by lack of food
hunger swarm1870
1870 A. Pettigrew Handy Bk. Bees 150 We have known swarms starved out of their hives. Having made a few pieces of comb, and being without food, no eggs were set in them and the bees, through sheer want, cast themselves on the wide world. These are called ‘hunger-swarms’.
1888 F. R. Cheshire Bees & Bee-keeping II. iv. 168 Bees sometimes abscond because their stores have run out, and circumstances are desperate. Such have usually been called ‘hunger’ or ‘vagabond’ swarms.
1928 C. Williams Story of Hive iii. 22 Bees on the point of starvation will, in a spirit of desperation, leave their hive in a body. This exodus is known as ‘a hunger swarm’.
1954 C. G. Butler World of Honeybee xiii. 154 Another type of honeybee swarm is sometimes recognisable, the type which in Europe is usually known as a ‘hunger’ swarm, and which occurs when a colony is starving.
hunger-trace n. a flaw in the feathers of a hawk caused by improper or scanty feeding while the feathers are growing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > family Accipitridae (hawks, etc.) > [noun] > hawk > parts of > feathers > flaw in
taint1486
hunger-trace1828
1828 J. S. Sebright Observ. Hawking (new ed.) 7 Young hawks should be plentifully fed, for if they are left one day without food, the hunger-traces will appear.
1852 R. F. Burton Falconry in Valley of Indus iv. 42 (note) The plumage will bear..‘hunger-traces’, a flaw on the shaft and web of every feather in the body, especially the wings and tail, often occasioning them to break off at the place injured.
hunger-weed n. a name for Ranunculus arvensis and Alopecurus agrestis, cornfield weeds, found especially on clayey soil.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Ranunculaceae (crowfoot and allies) > [noun] > crowfoot
clovetonguec1325
pilewort?a1425
crowfootc1440
ranunculus1543
rape crowfoot1578
urchin crowfoot1578
water milfoil1578
lodewort1597
reate1655
hunger-weed1792
devil's claw1996
1792 T. Martyn Flora Rustica II. 56 It [Corn Crowfoot] has the name of Hungerweed.
1894 Times 21 May 12/1 That most pestilent of weeds, the slender foxtail, blackbent, or hungerweed, alopecurus agrestis, is already in ear and flower in corn-fields.
Draft additions June 2006
U.S. slang. from hunger: acceptable only as a last resort; incompetent, undesirable, or contemptible; very bad, lousy. Frequently in strictly from hunger. Also (in early use): contemptibly, badly.
ΚΠ
1935 Peabody Bull. Dec. 42/2 Playing (music) from hunger, similar to ‘corny’, meaning playing in a style to please the uneducated masses.
1937 Lima (Ohio) News 18 Dec. 7/1 He hadn't been asked to sing, and his talents were strictly from hunger.
1938 ‘E. Queen’ Devil to Pay x. 152 ‘You and Mr. Butcher,’ said Ellery, impaling Mr. Hugger with a terrible glance, ‘are from hunger.’
1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye vi. 56 I started giving the three witches at the next table the eye again. That is, the blonde one. The other two were strictly from hunger.
1988 J. Ellroy Big Nowhere iv. 45 ‘Coleman, you know that white trombone from Bido's? Marty what the fuck?’.. ‘Sure. A from-hunger horn, I heard. Why?’
2000 N.Y. Times 5 Mar. ii. 13/2 ‘What Planet Are You From?’ exists in a kind of parallel universe, where men are from Mars, women are from Venus and relationships are from hunger.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
hungerv.
/ˈhʌŋɡə/, U.S. /ˈhəŋɡər/ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > make hungry [verb (impersonal)]
it hungers me950
950 Lindisf. Gosp. John vi. 35 Seðe cymes to me ne hyncgreð hine.
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: John (Corpus Cambr.) vi. 35 Ne hingrað þone þe to me cymð.
c1000 Ælfric Homilies I. 166 Ac siððan him hingrode.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 160 Ou schal eauer hungren.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 654 Him hungrede swithe sore.
1393 W. Langland Piers Plowman C. xvi. 252 Eet this when þe hungreþ.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xiv. 432 Thame hungerit [1489 Adv. hungryt] alsua weill sar.
2. intransitive. To feel or suffer hunger, be hungry.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > be hungry [verb (intransitive)]
hungerOE
to be sharp or keen set1540
esuriate1623
to cry cupboardc1665
OE Crist III 1354 Ge hyra hulpon ond him hleoð gefon, hingrendum hlaf ond hrægl nocendum.
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) vi. 21 Eadige synd ge ðe hingriað nu.
1340 R. Rolle Pricke of Conscience 6151 I hungerd and yhe me fedde.
a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 40 Þenne mihti hengren on heowe.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke vi. 3 This, that Dauith dide, whanne he hungride.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 12943 I wate þat þu Has fastid lang, and hungris [Vesp. hungres, Trin. Cambr. hongrest] nu.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 253/1 Hungryn, or waxyn hungry.., esurio.
1556 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbs Eng. Tounge (rev. ed.) i. xi. sig. Bviiiv They must hongre in frost, that wil not work in heete.
a1631 J. Donne Βιαθανατος (1647) ii. vi. §5 If he had not hungred till then, his fasting had had no vertue.
1794 W. Blake Holy Thursday in Songs of Experience in Compl. Poetry & Prose (1982) 20 Babe can never hunger there.
1881 Bible (R.V.) Matt. iv. 2 When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered [1611 was..an hungred].
3. transferred and figurative. To have a longing or craving; to long for; to hanker after. (With indirect passive.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > longing or yearning > long or yearn for [verb (transitive)]
yearneOE
yearnOE
copena1225
longc1225
to yawn after or fora1250
yerec1275
to stand to ——a1400
hungerc1450
ache1622
desiderate1646
sigh1650
tire1801
lonesome for1905
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 113 Þin eyȝin gredyly hungryn to se vanytees.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. v. f. v Blessed are they which honger and thurst for [1539 after] rightewesnes.
1563 N. Winȝet Wks. (1890) II. 12 The peple houngerit throw inlake of the heuinlie and necessare fuid of Godis Word.
1700 G. Farquhar Constant Couple iv. ii. 42 Hell hungers not more for wretched Souls, than he for ill-got Pelf.
1737 D. Waterland Rev. Doctr. Eucharist vi. 161 The Word was made Flesh; which consequently is to be hungred after for the sake of Life.
1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh vi. 245 Whom still I've hungered after more than bread.
1873 A. Helps Some Talk about Animals & their Masters vi. 143 If, over and above this necessary repute, you hunger for praise.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > strong or eager desire > desire strongly or eagerly [verb (transitive)] > crave
thirstc950
hungerc1000
becravea1325
cravea1400
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) v. 6 Eadige synt þa ðe rihtwisnesse hingriað [L. esuriunt iustitiam] and þyrstað.
1382 J. Wyclif Matt. v. 6 Blessid be þei þat hungren and þristun riȝt~wisnesse.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 113 Þi mowth hungreth gredyly delycacyes...Þin erys hungryn gredyly newe tydynges.
1563 2nd Tome Homelyes Sacrament i, in J. Griffiths Two Bks. Homilies (1859) ii. 444 Spiritually they hungred it, spiritually they tasted it.
5.
a. To subject to hunger; to starve, famish; to drive or force by hunger (to, into, out, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > hunger for [verb (transitive)] > starve
famec1384
hunger-starve1390
enfamisha1400
famisha1400
forclemc1400
famine1520
starve1570
hunger1575
clem?c1600
effamisha1603
affamish1615
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > hunger for [verb (transitive)] > starve > subdue or force by starving
hunger1575
starve1616
1575 G. Gascoigne Fruites of Warre cxxxii, in Posies sig. Iviiv The Prince to Zeland came himselfe, To hunger Middleburgh.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1895) II. 313 It culd not be won, be na force except thay war hungret out.
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 125 Theire pasture will hunger our beasts, that are used to better keepinge.
1727 P. Walker Life A. Peden 56 (Jam.) Christ minds only to diet you, and not hunger you.
1803 S. Pegge Anecd. Eng. Lang. 58 (note) In the north they say of one who keeps his servants on short commons that he hungers them.
1858 C. Kingsley Ode N.E. Wind Hunger into madness Every plunging pike.
1884 Daily Tel. 12 May 5/7 The Mahdi spent five months in hungering out Obeid.
b. transferred. To deprive of strength by want of any kind; to ‘starve’. ? Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > supply > provide or supply (something) [verb (transitive)] > keep ill-supplied > specific
hungera1500
a1500 tr. Iter Camerarii c. 23 in Acts Parl. Scotl. (1844) I. 700 [Skinners] hunger þer lethir in defaut of graith þat js to say alum eggis and oþir thingis.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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