v.
Pronunciation: ' fa-mish
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, probably alteration of famen, from Anglo-French afamer, from Vulgar Latin *affamare, from Latin ad- + fames
Date: 15th century
transitive verb
1 : to cause to suffer severely from hunger
2 archaic : to cause to starve to death
intransitive verb
1 archaic : STARVE
2 : to suffer for lack of something necessary <a moment when French poetry in particular was famish ing for such invention ― T. S. Eliot>
– fam · ish · ment \ -m ə nt \ noun