▪ I. hunger, n.
(ˈhʌŋgə(r))
Forms: 1 hungor, 1–5 hungur, 1– hunger; (also 3 hounguer, (Orm.) hunngerr, 3–5 unger, 4 hungire, -yr, honggir, houngur, 4–5 hongur, -yr(e, 4–6 hungre, -ir, honger, hounger, 5– hongre, -ir).
[OE. hungor, -ur = OS. hungar, MDu. hongher (Du. honger), OHG. hungar, (MHG., Ger. hunger), ON. hungr, (Sw., Da. hunger):–OTeut. *huŋgru-s; cf. Goth. huggrjan to hunger: the actual Goth. n. was hûhrus, corresp. to an OTeut. *huŋhru-s; these imply pre-Teutonic *kuŋkru-, *kŋkr{uacu}-. Cf. Lith. kankà torment, keñkti to ache, Gr. (gloss) κέγκει = πεινᾷ: see Kluge, and Zupitza German. Gutturale.]
1. a. The uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite. Also, the exhausted condition caused by want of food.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter lviii. 15 [lix. 14] Hungur ðrowiað. a 900 Cynewulf Crist 1660 in Exeter Bk., Nis þær hungor ne þurst slæp ne swar leᵹer. c 1050 Suppl. ælfric's Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 172/3 Fames, uel popina, hunger. 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1137 ¶3 Wrecce men sturuen of hungær. a 1200 Moral Ode 231 On helle is vnger & þerst. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 2/54 For strong hounguer he criede loude. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Petrus 88 Till ner for hungyre þe gaste he ȝalde. a 1400–50 Alexander 4608 Ȝe bot fede ȝow with frute at flays noȝt ȝoure hongir. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 8 What nedeth meet there where shall be no hunger? 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 35 After that he would never eate nor drinke, but pyned away for hunger and sorow. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 836 Very patient of labour and hunger, feasting if they have where⁓with..and fasting other-whiles. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest ii, A repast which hunger and fatigue made delicious. 1858 Lytton What will he do i. iii, I have the hunger of a wolf. |
b. personified or represented as an agent.
| c 1000 Andreas 1089 (Gr.) Hungres on wenum blates beodgæstes. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 288 Fedde hunger ȝeorne With good Ale. 1393 Ibid. C. ix. 177 Honger have mercy of hem, and lete me geve hem benes. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 862 Some perishing in the devouring jawes of the Ocean, and others in their selfe-devouring Mawes of Hunger. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 125 Hunger is a much more powerful enemy to man than watchfulness, and kills him much sooner. 1894 H. Drummond Ascent Man 251 The parent of all industries is Hunger. |
c. Proverbs.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 39 Some saie, and I feele, hunger perceth stone wall. 1555 Eden Decades 62 marg., Hunger is the best sauce. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. i. 210. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 780 Hunger breaketh stone-walls, and hard need makes the old wife trot. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 12 Had they not so good a sauce as hunger. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. ii, Hunger knows no friend. |
2. Want or scarcity of food in a country, etc.; dearth; famine.
Obs. or
arch.| c 1000 ælfric Gen. xli. 30 Hunger fondeþ ealle eorþan. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxiv. 7 Mann-cwealmas beoð and hungras..and eorþan styrunga. a 1046 O.E. Chron. (MS. C) an. 976 On þys ᵹeare wæs se miccla hungor on Angel cynne. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2150 Ghe ðer him two childer bar, Or men wurð of ðat hunger war. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 441 In his dayes fil a greet honger in þe lond of Israel. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cii. (1482) 83 The englyssh peple that were escaped the grete honger and mortalyte. 1559 Homilies i. Swearing ii. (1859) 78 God..sent an universal hunger upon the whole country. 1600 Holland Livy iv. 147 These calamities began with hunger. 1847 W. E. Forster in T. W. Reid Life (1888) I. vi. 196 When we entered a village [in Ireland] our first question was, ‘How many deaths?’ ‘The hunger has been there’, was everywhere the cry. |
3. transf. and
fig. Strong desire or craving.
| 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 45 b, That cursed hungre of golde and execrable thirst of lucre. 1656–9 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 4 The insatiable hunger of mony hath vayled..their understanding. 1860 Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. i. v, This need of love—this hunger of the heart. 1880 Tennyson Battle of Brunanburh xv, Earls that were lured by the Hunger of glory. 1889 Ruskin Præterita III. 43 A fit took me of hunger for city life again. 1897 Daily News 24 Sept. 8/3 This so-called ‘land hunger’ might prevail in parts of Ireland where the possession of a small piece of land was absolutely necessary. |
¶ erron. for
hungri,
hungry.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5094 (Cott.) Fiue yeir o þis hunger tide [other MSS. hungre, -ry, -ery]. c 1300 Ibid. 20121 (Edin.) Nakid and hunger [other MSS. hungry, hongry] sco clad and fed. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1934 Þe hungor and þe thorsty. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. Of, belonging to, connected with, or characteristic of hunger, as
hunger-den,
hunger-pain,
hunger-pinch,
hunger-wolf,
hunger-world.
b. instrumental, as
hunger-beaten,
hunger-driven,
hunger-greedy,
hunger-mad,
hunger-pinched,
hunger-pressed,
hunger-stricken,
hunger-stung,
hunger-worn adjs.;
hunger-pine vb. c. objective, as
hunger-giving.
d. parasynthetic, as
hunger-gutted,
hunger-paunched adjs.| 1606 J. Raynolds Dolarney's Prim. (1880) 87 Because, that I was *hunger-beaten, I chaw'd a bit. |
| 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. iii. ii, The Atheist world, from its utmost summits of Heaven and Westminster Hall..down to the lowest cellars and neglected *hunger-dens of it, is very wretched. |
| a 1618 Sylvester Hymn St. Lewis the King 489 In rags, and *hunger-driven. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 11 Feb. 5/2 The fearlessness of the hunger-driven birds. |
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 373 Satisfying his *hunger-greedy appetite. |
| 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 67 Art thou with th' injury of a meale so tooke? So *hunger-gutted? |
| 1805 Cary Dante, Inferno i. 44 With his head held aloft and *hunger-mad. |
| 1820 Keats Isabella lix, Seldom felt she any *hunger-pain. |
| 1598 Rowlands Betraying Christ 11 Like *hunger-paunched wolues prone to deuour The lambe. |
| 1855 Browning Fra Lippo 127 Admonition from the *hunger-pinch. |
| 1639 Fuller Holy War i. viii. (1647) 11 Being well *hunger-pincht..[he] ran away from the rest of the Christians. |
| 1610 Chester's Tri., Envie 28 A rich man *hunger-pin'd with want. |
| a 1756 Collins Ode Pop. Superst. Highl. 164 *Hunger-prest Along th' Atlantick rock undreading climb. |
| 1614 T. Adams Fatal Banquet i. Wks. 1861 I. 161 Hath any gentleman the *hunger-worm of covetousness? |
| 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxiii, Many *hunger-worn outcasts close their eyes in our bare streets. |
e. Special combs.:
† hunger-bane, death by hunger, starvation; so
† hunger-baned a., starved;
† hunger-bedrip, a kind of
bedrip or harvest service at which the lord gave the tenants food;
hunger-belt, a belt worn round the abdomen, and continually tightened to alleviate the pangs of hunger;
† hunger-bond, necessity arising from famine;
hunger-flower, a species of Whitlow-grass,
Draba incana, so called because it grows in ‘hungry’ soils (
Cent. Dict.);
hunger-grass, the grass
Alopecurus agrestis: see
hunger-weed;
hunger-house, a place in which cattle are kept for some time before being slaughtered; a pining-house;
hunger-march, a march, undertaken usually by the unemployed, in order to call attention to their needs and claims; so
hunger-marcher;
hunger-pain, pain due to hunger; also
Path. (see
quot. 1905);
hunger-rot,
† (
a) a disease in cattle resulting from scanty feeding; (
b) a miserly wretch (
dial.);
hunger strike, the action of a person,
esp. a prisoner, who refuses food in order to induce someone to yield to his demands; so
hunger-strike v. intr., to go on hunger-strike;
hunger-striker,
hunger-striking vbl. n.;
hunger swarm, the swarming of bees caused by lack of food;
hunger-trace, a flaw in the feathers of a hawk caused by improper or scanty feeding while the feathers are growing;
hunger-weed, a name for
Ranunculus arvensis and
Alopecurus agrestis, corn-field weeds, found especially on clayey soil.
| 1617 Markham Caval. i. 3 Nor..that they..for lacke of strength die with *hunger-bane. |
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. 12 We beyng there were *hunger⁓baned and famyshed. |
| c 1300 Custumals Battle-Abbey (Camden) 54 Ad quartam precariam, quod vocatur *Hunger⁓bedrip. |
| 1846 Stokes Discov. Australia II. xii. 395 Mr. Pasco..had obtained from them a *hunger belt, composed of wallaby furs. 1865 Daily Tel. 21 Dec. 7/1 'Tis a device of savages to cheat an empty stomach, and is called ‘the hunger belt’. |
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 763 Ðeden for he, for *hunger bond, feȝer ut into egipte lond. |
| 1839 G. Taylor Mem. Surtees in Surtees' Durham IV. 69 He went instantly to the *hunger-house, and set it at liberty. 1893 Whitby Gaz. 3 Nov. 3/6 In two instances the pining-lairs or hunger⁓houses are within the shops or open directly into them. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 16 July 10/3 A statement of the purpose of the ‘*Hunger March’. 1939 N. Monsarrat This is Schoolroom i. 33 Hunger-marches, May Day processions..they were all new. 1972 M. Jones Life on Dole i. i. 11 Among the older people, there was grave talk of the days of mass unemployment and the Hunger Marches. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 16 July 10/3 He had no knowledge the ‘*Hunger Marchers’ were coming there that day. 1922 Ibid. 29 Dec., Unemployed hunger marchers are persisting in their determination to see the Prime Minister. 1950 Koestler God that Failed i. 28 Europe trembled under the torn boots of hunger-marchers. |
| 1820 *Hunger-pain [see hunger n. 4 a]. 1905 B. G. A. Moynihan in Lancet 11 Feb. 341/1 If the pain does not come on for from two to four hours after a meal..the patient will often complain of what I have been accustomed to call ‘hunger pain’. 1943 E. Bowen Seven Winters 25 The vacuum, the hunger-pain, set up in me from being unable to read. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §54 Also *hunger rotte is the worst rotte that can be..and..cometh for lacke of meate, and so for hunger they eate suche as they can fynde. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 140 Against the Winter rotte, or hunger rotte, you must provide to feede them at home in Cratches. 1828 Craven Dial., Hunger-rot, a penurious, griping wretch. |
| 1889 Century Mag. Nov. 107/2 Here I heard..the narrative of the *hunger-strike of the four women in the prison of Irkutsk. 1903 H. Chisholm tr. L. Deutsch's Sixteen Yrs. in Siberia 78 Upon these conditions I consented not to prolong my ‘hunger-strike’. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 18 Mar. 5/1 The Central Prisons Administration has circularised the provincial Governors regarding the so-called ‘hunger strikes’, which are a characteristic feature of Russian prison life. 1914 E. Pankhurst My Own Story iii. v. 292 She has hunger-struck in prison. She submitted herself for more than five weeks to the horrible ordeal of feeding by force. 1916 W. J. Locke Wonderful Year xvii. 247 ‘I've been to prison.’ Martin.. asked if she hunger-struck. 1937 Koestler Spanish Testament ii. 333, I had intended to stop my hunger strike as soon as my letter to the Consul had been sent off. 1970 Times 11 May 8/4 In February Feron went on hunger strike in protest but was taken ill and for a month existed only on drugs. 1973 Jewish Chron. 19 Jan. 44/5 He will stage a 48-hour hunger strike outside the Soviet Embassy. |
| 1922 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 146/1 He gave his orders for the release of the *hunger-strikers. 1972 Guardian 1 Dec. 12/1 Already the names of McSwiney and MacCaughey, hunger-strikers of an earlier era, are being conjured up. |
| 1916 W. J. Locke Wonderful Year xxiii. 329 Her duties involved incendiarism, imprisonment, and *hunger-striking. |
| 1870 A. Pettigrew Handy Bk. Bees 150 We have known swarms starved out of their hives. Having made a few pieces of comb, and being without food, no eggs were set in them and the bees, through sheer want, cast themselves on the wide world. These are called ‘*hunger-swarms’. 1886 F. R. Cheshire Bees II. iv. 168 Bees sometimes abscond because their stores have run out, and circumstances are desperate. Such have usually been called ‘hunger’ or ‘vagabond’ swarms. 1928 C. Williams Story of Hive iii. 22 Bees on the point of starvation will, in a spirit of desperation, leave their hive in a body. This exodus is known as ‘a hunger swarm’. 1954 C. G. Butler World of Honeybee xiii. 154 Another type of honeybee swarm is sometimes recognisable, the type which in Europe is usually known as a ‘hunger’ swarm, and which occurs when a colony is starving. |
| 1828 J. S. Sebright Observ. Hawking 7 Young hawks should be plentifully fed, for if they are left one day without food, the *hunger-traces will appear. 1852 R. F. Burton Falconry Valley Indus iv. 42 note, The plumage will bear..‘hunger-traces’, a flaw on the shaft and web of every feather in the body, especially the wings and tail, often occasioning them to break off at the place injured. |
| 1793 Martyn Flora Rust. II. 56 It [Corn Crowfoot] has the name of *Hungerweed. 1894 Times 21 May 12/1 That most pestilent of weeds, the slender foxtail, blackbent, or hungerweed, alopecurus agrestis, is already in ear and flower in corn-fields. |
▸
U.S. slang.
from hunger: acceptable only as a last resort; incompetent, undesirable, or contemptible; very bad, lousy. Freq. in
strictly from hunger. Also (in early use): contemptibly, badly.
| 1935 Peabody Bull. Dec. 42/2 Playing (music) from hunger, similar to ‘corny’, meaning playing in a style to please the uneducated masses. 1937 ‘E. Queen’ Devil to Pay x. 152 ‘You and Mr. Butcher,’ said Ellery, impaling Mr. Hugger with a terrible glance, ‘are from hunger.’ 1937 Lima (Ohio) News 18 Dec. 7/1 He hadn't been asked to sing, and his talents were strictly from hunger. 1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye vi. 56, I started giving the three witches at the next table the eye again. That is, the blonde one. The other two were strictly from hunger. 1988 J. Ellroy Big Nowhere iv. 45 ‘Coleman, you know that white trombone from Bido's? Marty what the fuck?’.. ‘Sure. A from-hunger horn, I heard. Why?’ 2000 N.Y. Times 5 Mar. ii. 13/2 ‘What Planet Are You From?’ exists in a kind of parallel universe, where men are from Mars, women are from Venus and relationships are from hunger. |
▪ II. hunger, v. (
ˈhʌŋgə(r))
Forms: 1
hyngran,
hingrian, (
hyncgrian), 3–5
hungre-n (4
hongre-,
hengren, 5
hungyr, 6
houngir,
-re,
hungre), 4–
hunger.
[OE. hyngran (later hingrian) = OS. gihungrjan, Goth. huggrjan, f. hungr-, hunger n. Cf. also OHG. hungaran, -arôn, MHG. and Ger. hungern, MLG., MDu. hungeren, MD. and Du. hongeren; OFris. hungera; ON. hungra, Da. hungre, with a different verbal form. The normal mod. repr. of OE. hyngr(i)an would be hinger; in ME. this was assimilated to the n. hunger.] † 1. impers. as in
it hungers me (
= Goth. huggreiþ mik,
ON. mik hungrar,
OHG. mih hungrit): ‘there is hunger to me’, I am hungry. (In
OE. with
accus. or
dat.)
Obs.| 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John vi. 35 Seðe cymes to me ne hyncgreð hine. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. ibid., Ne hingrað þone þe to me cymð. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 166 Ac siððan him hingrode. a 1225 Ancr. R. 214 Ou schal euer hungren. c 1300 Havelok 654 Him hungrede swithe sore. 1375 Barbour Bruce xiv. 432 Thame hungerit alsua weill sar. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xvi. 252 Eet this when þe hungreþ. |
2. intr. To feel or suffer hunger, be hungry.
| a 900 Cynewulf Crist 1354 in Exeter Bk., Þonne ᵹe..ᵹefon hingrendum hlaf. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke vi. 21 Eadiᵹe synd ᵹe ðe hingriað nu. a 1300 Cursor M. 12943, I wat at þou has fasted lang and hungres [Trin. hongrest] nu. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. x. 37 Thenne mihti hengren on heowe. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 6151, I hungerd and yhe me fedde. 1382 Wyclif Luke vi. 3 This, that Dauith dide, whanne he hungride. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 253/1 Hungryn, or waxyn hungry.., esurio. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 28 They must hunger in frost, that will not woorke in heete. a 1612 Donne βιαθανατος (1644) 129 If he had not hungred till then, his fasting had had no vertue. 1783–94 Blake Songs Exper., Holy Thursday 15 Babe can never hunger there. 1881 N.T. (R.V.) Matt. iv. 2 When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered [1611 was..an hungred]. |
3. transf. and
fig. To have a longing or craving; to long
for; to hanker
after. (With
indirect pass.)
| c 1440 Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 113 Þin eyȝin gredyly hungryn to se vanytees. 1526 Tindale Matt. v. 6 Blessed are they which honger and thurst for [1539 after] rightewesnes. 1563 Winȝet Wks. (1890) II. 12 The peple houngerit throw inlake of the heuinlie and necessare fuid of Godis Word. 1700 Farquhar Constant Couple iv. iii, Hell hungers not more for wretched souls, than he for ill⁓got pelf. 1737 Waterland Rev. Doctr. Eucharist vi. 161 The Word was made Flesh; which consequently is to be hungred after for the sake of Life. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh vi. 455 Whom still I've hungered after more than bread. 1873 Helps Anim. & Mast. vi. (1875) 143 If, over and above this necessary repute, you hunger for praise. |
† 4. trans. To have a hunger or craving for; to desire with longing; to hunger after.
Obs.| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. v. 6 Eadiᵹe synt þa ðe rihtwisnesse hingriað [esuriunt iustitiam] and þyrstað. 1382 Wyclif ibid., Blessid be þei þat hungren and þristun riȝt⁓wisnesse. c 1440 Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 113 Þi mowth hungreth gredyly delycacyes..Þin erys hungryn gredyly newe tydynges. 1563 Homilies ii. Sacrament i. (1859) 444 Spiritually they hungred it, spiritually they tasted it. |
5. To subject to hunger; to starve, famish; to drive or force by hunger (
to,
into,
out, etc.).
| 1575 Gascoigne Dulce Bellum cxxxii, The Prince to Zeland came himselfe To hunger Middleburgh. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. x. 313 It culd not be won be na force except thay war hungret out. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 119 Theire pasture will hunger our beasts that are used to better keepinge. 1727 P. Walker Life Peden 56 (Jam.) Christ minds only to diet you, and not hunger you. 1803 S. Pegge Anecd. Eng. Lang. 58 note, In the north they say of one who keeps his servants on short commons that he hungers them. 1858 Kingsley Ode to N. East Wind, Hunger into madness Every plunging pike. 1884 Daily Tel. 12 May 5/7 The Mahdi spent five months in hungering out Obeid. |
b. transf. To deprive of strength by want of any kind; to ‘starve’. ?
Obs.| 14.. Iter Camerar. c. 23 in Scott. Stat. (1844) 700/2 (red) [Skinners] hunger þer lethir in defaut of graith þat js to say alum eggis and oþir thingis. |