bulimic, a. and n.
(bjuːˈlɪmɪk)
[f. prec. + -ic.]
A. adj.
1. Symptomatic of bulimy; voracious.
| 1854 Badham Halieut. 130 The bulimic propensities of the callionymus. |
2. spec. Suffering from or characteristic of bulimia nervosa.
| 1977 Behavior Therapy VIII. 258 None of the patients in the studies cited were bulimic anorexics. 1981 Canad. Jrnl. Psychiatry XXVI. 229/1 The very powerful oral drive which manifests itself so clearly during the bulimic phase. 1983 Oxf. Textbk. Med. I. viii. 54 It is uncertain why the bulimic patient should crave for food and suffer bouts of overeating. |
B. n. One who suffers from bulimia nervosa.
| 1980 Washington Post 1 Aug. c5 Bulimics may not exhibit the outward signs of starvation that are the hallmark of the anorexic. 1982 Woman's Own 28 Aug. 22/1 The risk of suicide among bulimics is high. 1984 Daily Tel. 18 May 19/5 Both anorectics and bulimics are often unhappy in their predicament in which everything in life is subjected to the twin obsessions with food and shape. 1985 Listener 28 Feb. 20/2 In the main, group ‘contacts’ are recovered anorectics/bulimics, who thus understand only too well the feelings of despair and isolation. |
So buˈlimious (bjuːˈlɪmɪəs), a. [see -ous], having a voracious appetite.
| 1885 F. Hall in N.Y. Nation 4 June 466 The bulimious Doctor [Johnson] would not have transacted his feeding so porcinely and perspiringly. |