hungry, a.
(ˈhʌŋgrɪ)
Forms: 1 hungriᵹ, 1–6 hungri, 3 (Orm.) hunngriȝ, 3–6 houngrie, 4–6 hungre, hongry, 4–7 hungery, 5 hongarye, 5–6 hungary, 6 hongrye, -ie, 6–7 hungrie, 4– hungry.
[OE. hungriᵹ, -reᵹ = OFris. hungerig, hongerig (MDu. hongerich, MLG. hungerich, Du. hongerig), OHG. hungerag, -ereg (MHG. hungerc, Ger. hung(e)rig):—WGer. type *hungrag-, f. hungr- hunger n.: see -y.]
1. a. Having the sensation of hunger; feeling pain or uneasiness from want of food; having a keen appetite.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxv. 37 Huoenne ðec we seᵹon hungriᵹ vel hyngrende? [Ags. Gosp. hingriᵹendne.] a 1000 Guthlac 737 in Exeter Bk., Oft he him æte heold þonne hy him hungriᵹe ymb hond fluᵹon. c 1200 Ormin 6162 Þe birrþ fedenn hunngriȝ mann. a 1300 Cursor M. 23084, I was hungre, yee gaf me fode. 1382 Wyclif Luke i. 53 He hath fillid hungry men with goode thingis, and he hath left ryche men voyde [1526 Tindale, He hath filled the hongry with goode thinges]. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cxcvii. 175 An hungary wolfe. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. vi, Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings. Ibid. (1867) 75 Hungry flies byte sore. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xiii. 139 As houngrie tykis ȝe thristit for his blude. 1637 Milton Lycidas 125 The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed. 1650 Trapp Comm. Lev. xvii. 13 Though hee bee as hungrie as a hunter. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 89 How hungry soever he may be, he never stoops to carrion. 1855 Longfellow Hiaw. viii. 227 The hungry sea-gulls..Clamorous for the morning banquet. |
b. Said of the belly or stomach.
| 1484 Caxton Fable of æsop iii. xvi, When the bely was empty and sore hongry. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 82 b, Scarcite in meate, and the bely alway somwhat hungry. 1573–80 Baret Alv. H 734 Bread and salt asswageth an hungrie stomach. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 87 A hungry belly may call for more meat. |
c. transf. Indicating, characteristic of, or characterized by hunger; belonging to a hungry person.
| 1600 J. Pory. tr. Leo's Africa ii. 266 Certaine Arabians lead here a miserable and hungrie life. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 194 Yond Cassius has a leane and hungry looke. 1818 Shelley Rev. Islam x. xv, The..flocks and herds Who had survived the wild beasts' hungry chase. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. i, His shining eyes darted a hungry look. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss. s.v., A hungry eye sees far. |
2. a. Of times or places: Marked by famine or scarcity of food; famine-stricken. the hungry forties, the decade beginning in 1840, characterized in the British Isles by much poverty and unemployment.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2136 Quan ðo hungri ȝere ben forðcumen. a 1300 Cursor M. 5094 (Gött.) Fiue ȝere of þis hungery tyde. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. iv. 9 (Camb. MS.) In the sowre hungry tyme. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. x. 206 Helden [ful] hungry hous and hadde much defaute. 1607 Rowlands Diog. Lanth. 29 When thou art hording vp thy foode, Against these hungry dayes. 1905 Mrs. C. Unwin (title) The hungry forties. 1910 A. Baker Poor against Rich 34, I mention the Hungry Forties, because a lot of poor people have allowed themselves to be misled during the last election, by the fear of dear food. 1920 J. Collings in J. L. Green Life Jesse Collings i. iv. 29 During the ‘hungry forties’ eggs were sold twenty for a shilling. 1958 Spectator 20 June 792/1 During the famine in Ireland at the end of the Hungry Forties, it was not uncommon [etc.]. |
b. Of food: Eaten with hunger or keen appetite. Now rare or Obs.
| 1552 Huloet, Hungry meale, peredia. 1653 Walton Angler iv. 104 We shall..make a good honest, wholsome, hungry Breakfast. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus cviii. 4 First should a tongue..Fall extruded, of each vulture a hungry regale. |
3. a. Of food, etc.: That does not satisfy one's hunger; that leaves one hungry. Hence fig. Unsatisfying, insufficient. Now rare.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 234 Y{supt} wil not be content with a hungry supper. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxvii. §12 Their discourses are hungrie and vnpleasant. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 260 To feed upon their owne hungery store. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 128 Shrimps..tho' but a hungry sort of Food, they are mightily esteemed. 1865 Pall Mall G. 8 Aug. 10 In Lucian's time they found it rather hungry fare. |
b. Causing or inducing hunger; appetizing. rare.
| 1611 Coryat (title) Crudities hastily gobled vp in five Moneths Trauells..newly digested in the hungry aire of Odcombe, in the County of Somerset. 1681 Penn Acc. Pennsylv. in R. Burton Eng. Emp. Amer. vii. 109 A skie as clear as in Summer, and the Air dry, cold, piercing, and hungry. 1852 Thackeray Esmond ii. vii, There are wood⁓cocks for supper..It was such a hungry sermon. Mod. We found it a very hungry place; the children had their appetites wonderfully sharpened. |
4. In special collocations.
† hungry evil (sickness), a disease in horses characterized by insatiable hunger. † hungry gut, (a) the intestinum jejunum, the part of the small intestine between the duodenum and the ileum, so called because it is supposed to be usually found empty after death; also fig.; (b) in quot. 1552, a person with hungry guts, a glutton. hungry rice, a grain allied to millet, Paspalum exile, much cultivated in West Africa. † hungry worm (see quot. 1737).
| 1552 Huloet, Hungry gutte, esurio. Ibid., Hungry sicnes, bulima, bulimia. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 184 To satisfie the hungrie gut of their ravenous appetite. 1598 Florio, Digiuno,..a gut in mans bodie called the hungrie gut, because it is alwayes emptie. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 296 The Hungry Evill..is a very great desire to eat, following some great emptiness or lack of meat. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 101 The common People imagine them troubled with what they call the Hungry Worm under the Tongue... There is no such Thing as the Worm under a Dog's Tongue. 1858 Hogg Veg. Kingd. 818 Paspalum exile is a native of Sierra Leone..cultivated..for its small seeds, and called Fundi or Fundungi, which signifies Hungry Rice. 1887 C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 526 Fundi, fundungi, hungry rice, Sierra Leone millet. |
5. transf. and fig. Having or characterized by a strong desire or craving (for, † after, † of anything); eager; greedy; avaricious. a. of persons, their attributes, etc.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 215 Ðe hodede..sholde..fede mid godes worde þe hungrie soule. a 1325 Prose Psalter cvi[i]. 9 He..fulfild hungri soules of godes. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ii. 188 Aren none hardur ne hongryour þan men of holy churche. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Pref. 14 Hongrie of ferther Knoweladge. 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 6 Hungrie after charge, spoyle and gaine. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. vii. 357 A hungry and tyrannical Magistrate. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab vi. 137 That..the exulting cries..Might sate thine hungry ear. 1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars vi. 266 Classes of eager youths hungry for intellectual food. |
b. of things.
| 1650 Cotgr. (ed. Howell) Of Fr. Lett., The French is a hungry language, for it devours more consonants than any other. 1725 Pope Odyss. xii. 18 The hungry flame devours the silent dead. 1845 Hood Mermaid Margate xxx, He was saved from the hungry deep by a boat. 1886 Traill Shaftesbury iv. (1888) 52 The conveyance of prize-money..into Charles's always hungry pocket. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 20 Apr. 5/1 Now and again a column of flame shot out..and stretched a hungry arm at the building. |
6. a. Lacking elements which are needful or desirable, and therefore capable of absorbing these to a great extent; ‘more disposed to draw from other substances than to impart to them’ (J.); esp. of land, etc.: Not rich or fertile, poor; of rivers: Not supplying food for fish. † Applied formerly also to ‘hard’ waters and acrid liquids, wines, etc.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 24 The land..which is nought and yeeldes not his fruite, is called leane, barren, hungry. 1626 Bacon Sylva §395 The more Fat Water will beare Soape best; For the Hungry Water doth kill the vnctuous Nature of the Soape. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 157 Thy Sets may neither root in stiffe-binding Clay: nor hungry Sand. 1703 Art of Vintners & Wine-C. 17 To meliorate the taste of hungry and too eager White Wines. 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 6 Carps in all hungry springing waters being fed at certain times will come up, and take their meat almost from your hand. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 9 Flat tracts of hungry pasture ground. 1890 Whitby Gaz. 24 Jan. 3/3 Food was not plentiful in the river anywhere, and Goathland beck was certainly the hungriest part of the stream. |
b. fig. Jejune; barren, sterile.
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xxv. 8 A cold and hungery imaginacion. |
c. Min. ‘A term applied to hard barren vein-matter, such as white quartz (not discolored with iron oxide)’ (Raymond Mining Gloss. 1881).
7. Comb. † hungry-looked, hungry-looking adjs.
| 1713 Steele Guardian No. 54 ¶12 A lean hungry-looked rascal. |