Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Devour

1. To eat up with greediness; to consume ravenously; to feast upon like a wild beast or a glutton; to prey upon. Some evil beast hath devoured him. (gen. Xxxvii. 20)

2. To seize upon and destroy or appropriate greedily, selfishly, or wantonly; to consume; to swallow up; to use up; to waste; to annihilate. Famine and pestilence shall devour him. (Ezek. Vii. 15) I waste my life and do my days devour. (Spenser)

3. To enjoy with avidity; to appropriate or take in eagerly by the senses. Longing they look, and gaping at the sight, devour her o'er with vast delight. (Dryden)

Synonym: to consume, waste, destroy, annihilate.

Origin: f. Devorer, fr. L. Devorare; de _ vorare to eat greedily, swallow up. See Voracious.