In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
FAMISH
starve, famish
(verb) die of food deprivation; “The political prisoners starved to death”; “Many famished in the countryside during the drought”
starve, famish
(verb) deprive of food; “They starved the prisoners”
starve, hunger, famish
(verb) be hungry; go without food; “Let’s eat--I’m starving!”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
famish (third-person singular simple present famishes, present participle famishing, simple past and past participle famished)
(obsolete, transitive) To starve (to death); to kill or destroy with hunger.
(transitive) To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to distress with hunger.
(transitive) To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation or denial of anything necessary.
(transitive) To force or constrain by famine.
(intransitive) To die of hunger; to starve.
(intransitive) To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in strength, or to come near to perish.
(intransitive) To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary.
Source: Wiktionary
Fam"ish, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Famished; p. pr. & vb. n. Famishing.] Etym: [OE. famen; cf. OF. afamer, L. fames. See Famine, and cf. Affamish.]
1. To starve, kill, or destroy with hunger. Shak.
2. To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to distress with hanger. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Cen. xli. 55. The pains of famished Tantalus he'll feel. Dryden.
3. To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation or denial of anything necessary. And famish him of breath, if not of bread. Milton.
4. To force or constrain by famine. He had famished Paris into a surrender. Burke.
Fam"ish, v. i.
1. To die of hunger; to starve.
2. To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in strength, or to come near to perish. You are all resolved rather to die than to famish Shak.
3. To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. Prov. x. 3.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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