devour

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Archived revision by 86.145.59.246 (talk) as of 14:18, 1 October 2019.
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English

Etymology

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(deprecated template usage)

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value xno is not valid. See WT:LOL. devourer, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French devorer (Modern French dévorer), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin dēvorō, from vorō.

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value UK is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /dɪˈvaʊ(w)ə(ɹ)/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)
  • Rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ)

Verb

devour (third-person singular simple present devours, present participle devouring, simple past and past participle devoured)

  1. To eat quickly, greedily, hungrily, or ravenously.
  2. To rapidly destroy, engulf, or lay waste.
    The fire was devouring the building.
    • Bible, Isaiah i. 20
      If ye refuse [] ye shall be devoured with the sword.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:
      Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within, [] most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities.
  3. To take in avidly with the intellect or with one's gaze.
    She intended to devour the book.
    • Template:RQ:Vance Nobody
      Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.
  4. To absorb or engross the mind fully, especially in a destructive manner.
    After the death of his wife, he was devoured by grief.

Synonyms

Translations