starvation

starvation
starvation 1778, noun of action from STARVE (Cf. starve). Famously introduced in English by Henry Dundas during debate in the House of Commons in 1775 on American affairs. It earned him the nickname "Starvation Dundas," though sources disagree on whether this was given in objection to the harshness of his suggestion of starving the rebels into submission or in derision at the barbarous formation of the word. It is one of the earliest instances of -ation used with a native Germanic word.
As to Lord Chatham, the victories, conquests, extension of our empire within these last five years, will annihilate his fame of course, and he may be replaced by Starvation Dundas, whose pious policy suggested that the devil of rebellion could be expelled only by fasting, though that never drove him out of Scotland. [Horace Walpole, letter to the Rev. William Mason, April 25, 1781]

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • Starvation — Star*va tion (st[aum]r*v[=a] sh[u^]n), n. The act of starving, or the state of being starved. [1913 Webster] Note: This word was first used, according to Horace Walpole, by Henry Dundas, the first Lord Melville, in a speech on American affairs in …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • starvation — [stär vā′shən] n. 1. the act of starving 2. the state of being starved adj. likely to cause starving [a starvation diet] …   English World dictionary

  • Starvation — (engl., spr. Starwehsch n), das Nothleiden, Hungerleiden, Entkräftung durch Hunger, Hungerkrankheit, Hungertod …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • starvation — index poverty, privation Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • Starvation — This article is about extreme malnutrition. For other uses, see Starvation (disambiguation). Starvation Classification and external resources A girl during the Nigerian Biafran war of the late 1960s, shown suffering the effects of severe hunger… …   Wikipedia

  • starvation — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ prolonged, slow ▪ mass, widespread ▪ oxygen ▪ The pilot had lost consciousness because of oxygen starvation …   Collocations dictionary

  • starvation — starv|a|tion [sta:ˈveıʃən US sta:r ] n 1.) [U] suffering or death caused by lack of food →↑hunger ▪ people dying of starvation 2.) starvation diet informal when you eat very little food, especially to become thinner 3.) starvation wages extremely …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • starvation — noun 1 (U) suffering or death caused by lack of food: people dying of starvation in the famine 2 starvation diet informal very little food 3 starvation wages extremely low wages …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • starvation — UK [stɑː(r)ˈveɪʃ(ə)n] / US [stɑrˈveɪʃ(ə)n] noun [uncountable] Word forms starvation : singular starvation plural starvations a situation in which a person or animal suffers or dies because they do not have enough to eat Millions are threatened by …   English dictionary

  • starvation — [[t]stɑː(r)ve͟ɪʃ(ə)n[/t]] N UNCOUNT: usu of/from N Starvation is extreme suffering or death, caused by lack of food. Over three hundred people have died of starvation since the beginning of the year …   English dictionary

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