different between hungry vs devouring

English

Etymology

From Middle English hungry, from Old English hungri?, hungre?, hyngri?, from Proto-West Germanic *hungrug, from Proto-Germanic *hungrugaz (“hungry”); equivalent to hunger +? -y. Cognate with West Frisian hongerich (“hungry”), Dutch hongerig (“hungry”), German hungrig (“hungry”), Swedish hungrig (“hungry”), Icelandic hungraður (“hungry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h??.??i/
• Homophone: Hungary (in some accents)

Adjective

hungry (comparative hungrier, superlative hungriest)

1. Affected by hunger; desiring of food; having a physical need for food; such as a person's stomach rumbling, growling or grumbling.

2. Causing hunger

   All this gardening is hungry work.

3. (figuratively) Eager, having an avid desire (‘appetite’) for something.
   • 1850, Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke, London: Chapman & Hall, Volume 2, Chapter 5, p. 56,^[1]

     They rowed her in across the rolling foam,

     The cruel, crawling foam,

     The cruel, hungry foam,

     To her grave beside the sea:

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2,^[2]

     Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

4. Not rich or fertile; poor; barren; starved.
   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act V, Scene 3,^[3]

     […] What is this?

     Your knees to me? to your corrected son?

     Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach

     Fillip the stars […]

Synonyms

• (affected by hunger, desiring food): famished, peckish, starving

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• thirsty
• I am hungry

Middle English

Alternative forms

• (Early ME) hungrig, hunngri?, houngrie
• hungrie, hungri, hungre, hungery, hongry, hungury, hungorie, hungrye

Etymology

From Old English hungri?, from Proto-Germanic *hungragaz; equivalent to hunger +? -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hun?ri?/, [?hu??ri?]

Adjective

hungry

1. Hungry or starving; afflicted by hunger or starvation.
2. Voracious; having a great desire or compulsion to eat.
3. Haggard, scrawny; shriveled due to hunger or starvation.
4. (rare) Due to hunger; because of one's appetite.
5. (rare) Desirous; wanting something to a great degree.
6. (rare) Causing or producing hunger.
7. (rare) Of earth; not productive.

Descendants

• English: hungry
• Scots: hungry
• Yola: hungree

References

• “hungr?(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.

Noun

hungry

1. Those who are hungry, starving, or of little means.

References

• “hungr?(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-19.

English

Verb

devouring

1. present participle of devour

Noun

devouring (plural devourings)

1. The act by which something is devoured.