Devour \De*vour"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Devoured; p. pr. & vb. n. Devouring.]

[F. d['e]vorer, fr. L. devorare; de + vorare to eat greedily, swallow up. See Voracious.]

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.

Syn: To consume; waste; destroy; annihilate.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)