starvelingn.adj.

1546 Supplic. Poor Commons sig. a.iiii If none shoulde be alowed meate in youre hyghnesse house, but suche as were clothed in veluet,..what steruelynges woulde youre seruantes be aboue all other?

1557 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandrie sig. B.iii The fewe [swine] that she kepe, much the better shalbee: of all thing one good, is worth steruelinges three.

1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. i. 69 If I hang, ile make a fat paire of Gallowes: for if I hang, olde sir Iohn hangs with me, and thou knowest hee is no starueling . View more context for this quotation

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Coät, the vnderling, starueling, or writling of a beast.

1674 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd ii. 49 But the more hungrey starvelings generally look'd upon it as an immediate Call to a Benefice.

1774 J. Burgh Polit. Disquis. II. i. v. 106 He goes to his flock-bed with half a belly full of bread and cheese..that his wife and little starvelings may have the more.

1785 G. Forster tr. A. Sparrman Voy. Cape Good Hope I. v. 202 It required but a few weeks to bring one of these starvelings to a thriving state.

1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. II. iii. 119 Some [hogs] will fatten where others would remain starvelings.

1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South I. xxii. 269 And now they've frightened these poor Irish starvelings so with their threats.

1871 B. Taylor tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust II. i. iii. 58 What will the lean fool do? Has he, So dry a starveling, humour?

a1921 A. Teixeira de Mattos tr. J. H. Fabre Insect World of J. H. Fabre (1991) xxiv. 184 Having naught else within their reach, the starvelings consume any and all Cruciferæ, without distinction of species.

1977 K. Orr Appetite for Educ. in Contemporary Asia 6 Overfed and indolent city gluttons on the one hand and undernourished rural starvelings on the other.

2014 Derby Tel. (Nexis) 15 Mar. You are better off than the starvelings from Romania who appreciate the benefits here.

1594 Will of Thomas Andrewes (Essex Record Office D/AEW 10/281) My fee wood, w^th the starlinges [sic] and wind fall as also those tubbs w^ch are in his house.

1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iii. xvi. 453 You may graft..two or three scutcheons, prouided that they be all of one side: for they would not be equally set together in height, because that so they might all become staruelings.

1664 J. Evelyn Sylva (1679) xxi. §3. 92 Some of the outward skirts [of the wood] were nothing save shrubs and miserable stervlings.

1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Moralists ii. iv. 118 What think you of the Brain in this Partition? Is it not like to prove a Starveling?

1853 W. Darlington Flora Cestrica (ed. 3) 133 In rich soils it becomes quite stout; while on dry, sterile banks, it is often a very dwarf, or starveling.

1870 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 1 21 The Var. album is a starveling; rarely as large or as healthy as the purple plants in the midst of which it grows.

1915 Contrib. U.S. National Herbarium 19 364 The pods are slightly smaller as are the leaves, the plants probably being starvelings.

1987 Weekend Tel. 24 Oct. 7/4 Well-nourished plants are less likely to become affected than starvelings.

1578 W. Hunnis Hyue Full of Hunnye (Gen. 41) f. 103 Their Bellyes stil did cleaue Unto theyr Backes in Starueling sort,as when they did begynne.

1597 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 1st 3 Bks. ii. i. 25 So, lauish ope-tyde causeth fasting-lents, And staruling Famine comes of large expence.

1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 239 Starveling flies sucke much more, then those that are fully gorged.

1668 J. Owen Nature Indwelling-sin xv. 247 They..perform duties with as much constancy as ever they did, but yet have poor lean starvling souls.

1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner i. iii. xvi. 175 If any Trees..have all their Leaves lesser, and more starveling than they should be.

1756 J. Reed Brit. Philippic 8 Riot and Debauch Have sunk the hardy Briton's manly Frame To the lank Substance of the starvling Gaul.

1834 W. Beckford Italy; with Sketches Spain & Portugal II. 263 The stems of starveling pines.

1850 ‘S. Yendys’ Roman vi. 82 The very meanest starveling hound.

1883 J. A. Symonds Ital. Byways iii. 61 The palace has become a granary for country produce in a starveling land.

1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xvii. 220 His shrewd starveling face broadened with joy at dinner.

1989 M. Robinson Mother Country i. 127 Starveling men make unsatisfactory soldiers.

2012 Daily Mail (Nexis) 27 July Nora nurses a starveling rook.

1638 D. Featley Transubstant. Exploded 9 To another a Cardinals hat was given, but with so thinne lining..that he was commonly called the starveling Cardinal.

1710 J. Swift Examiner No. 19 in F. H. Ellis Swift vs. Mainwaring (1985) 82 A certain starvling Author..told me..that he and some others of his Brethren had secretly offered their Service dog-cheap to the present Ministry.

1729 A. Pope Dunciad (new ed.) ii. 36 No meagre, muse-rid mope, adust and thin,..But such a bulk as no twelve bards could raise, Twelve starveling bards of these degen'rate days.

1763 T. Smollett Crit. Rev. 15 373 In the midst of all his erudition, wit, humour, and pleasantry, we always find himself in the character of a starveling author, strolling actor, or choice spirit.

1822 W. Irving Bracebridge Hall xxii. 188 [He] then cast a glance upon his own threadbare and starveling condition.

1849 J. C. Hare Serm. Preacht Herstmonceaux Church II. x. 190 Our hearts are too poor and starveling..to find food and room for all these thoughts and feelings.

1874 F. C. Burnand My Time xxxi. 309 There was a starveling air about the place.

1918 Advocate Peace 80 238/1 1,300,000 persons in London live below the poverty line. What help can you expect from such abject and starveling multitudes to shape the national ideals for peace and righteousness and good will?

1975 Great Bend (Kansas) Tribune 4 Apr. 4/4 In literature, the most prominent example is probably Dostoyevsky's Raskalnikov, the starveling, misanthropic student.

2013 Irish Daily Mail (Nexis) 13 Apr. 28 You can see it in her starveling amber eyes, her urchin's haircut.