ravenous
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English ravenous, ravynous, from Old French ravineus.
Pronunciation[edit]
- IPA(key): /ˈɹævənəs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective[edit]
ravenous (comparative more ravenous, superlative most ravenous)
- Very hungry.
- 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
- The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it.
- 1970, Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, page 58:
- You must remember no one had eaten a thing for several days. They were ravenous. So for a while there was no conversation at all. There was only the sound of crunching and chewing as the animals attacked the succulent food.
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Biotics: Life as a Biotic Codex entry:
- Biotics possess extraordinary abilities, but they must live with minor inconveniences. The most obvious issue is getting adequate nutrition. Creating biotic mass effects takes such a toll on metabolism that active biotics develop ravenous appetites. The standard Alliance combat ration for a soldier is 3000 calories per day; biotics are given 4500, as well as a canteen of potent energy drink for quick refreshment after hard combat.
- 2023 February 8, Greg Morse, “Crossing the border... by Sleeper”, in RAIL, number 976, page 43:
- Ravenous, I order one more wine and a selection of cheese and biscuits.
- Grasping; characterized by strong desires.
- 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. IX, Working Aristocracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker):
- Supply-and-demand? One begins to be weary of such work. Leave all to egoism, to ravenous greed of money, of pleasure, of applause: — it is the Gospel of Despair!
- 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
- Mrs. Michael turned out to be a ravenous, fast-fading woman in a slashed skirt and a low blouse over an unappetising chest. While her husband did things in his shed, where he appeared to live, Pym inexpertly mixed the Yorkshire pudding and fought off her embraces...
- 2003, “Weak and Powerless”, performed by A Perfect Circle:
- Tilling my own grave to keep me level
Jam another dragon down the hole
Digging to the rhythm and the echo of a solitary siren
One that pushes me along and leaves me so
Desperate and ravenous
I'm so weak and powerless
Over you
Synonyms[edit]
- starving (colloquial, figuratively)
- See also Thesaurus:voracious
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
very hungry
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eager for prey or gratification
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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