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Eat vs Starve - What's the difference?

eat | starve |

In transitive terms the difference between eat and starve

is that eat is to destroy, consume, or use up while starve is to deprive of nourishment.

As verbs the difference between eat and starve

is that eat is to ingest; to be ingested while starve is to die; in later use especially to die slowly, waste away.

eat

English

Verb

  • To ingest; to be ingested.
  • #(lb) To consume (something solid or semi-solid, usually food) by putting it into the mouth and swallowing it.
  • #:
  • #*
  • #*:At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat' parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they ' eat the luncheon crumbs.
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
  • , passage=But Richmond
  • #(senseid) To consume a meal.
  • #:
  • # To be eaten.
  • #:
  • To use up.
  • #(lb) To destroy, consume, or use up.
  • #:
  • #*(William Makepeace Thackeray) (1811-1863)
  • #*:His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.
  • # To damage, destroy, or fail to eject a removable part or an inserted object.
  • #:
  • #:
  • #*(Bruce Willis) in the movie (The Last Boy Scout)
  • #*:No! There's a problem with the cassette player. Don't press fast forward or it eats the tape!
  • # To consume money or (other instruents of value, such as a token) deposited or inserted by a user, while failing to either provide the intended product or service, or return the payment.
  • #:
  • #*From the movie
  • #*:Hey! This stupid [soda vending] machine ate my quarter.
  • To cause (someone) to worry.
  • :
  • To take the loss in a transaction.
  • :
  • *From the movie (Midnight Run)
  • *:I have to have him in court tomorrow, if he doesn't show up, I forfeit the bond and I have to eat the $300,000.
  • (lb) To corrode or erode.
  • :
  • To perform oral sex on someone.
  • :
  • Synonyms

    * (consume) consume, swallow; see also * (cause to worry) bother, disturb, worry * (eat a meal) dine, breakfast, chow down, feed one's face, have one's breakfast/lunch/dinner/supper/tea, lunch

    Derived terms

    * don't shit where you eat * eater * eat crow * eatery, eaterie * eat humble pie * eat in * eating * eat into * eat like a bird * eat like a horse * eat like a pig * eat my shorts * eat one's hat * eat one's Wheaties * eat one's words * eat out * eat pussy * eats * eat shit and die * eat someone alive * eat someone's lunch * eat up * eatworthy * pie-eater * you are what you eat * what's eating you?

    See also

    * drink * food * edible

    Statistics

    *

    starve

    English

    (wikipedia starve)

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To die; in later use especially to die slowly, waste away.
  • * 1596 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , IV.i.4:
  • noble Britomart / Released her, that else was like to sterue , / Through cruell knife that her deare heart did kerue.
  • To die because of lack of food or of not eating.
  • *
  • To be very hungry.
  • Hey, ma, I'm starving !
  • To destroy, make capitulate or at least make suffer by deprivation, notably of food.
  • To deprive of nourishment.
  • They starved the child until it withered away.
  • (transitive, British, especially Yorkshire and Lancashire) To kill with cold.
  • I was half starved waiting out in that wind.

    Derived terms

    * starvation * starveling * starving

    Anagrams

    * * * English ergative verbs