Starve \Starve\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Starved; p. pr. & vb. n. Starving.]

[OE. sterven to die, AS. steorfan; akin to D. sterven, G. sterben, OHG. sterban, Icel. starf labor, toil.]

1. To die; to perish. [Obs., except in the sense of perishing with cold or hunger.]

--Lydgate.

In hot coals he hath himself raked . . . Thus starved this worthy mighty Hercules. --Chaucer.

2. To perish with hunger; to suffer extreme hunger or want; to be very indigent.

Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed. --Pope.

3. To perish or die with cold. --Spenser.

Have I seen the naked starve for cold? --Sandys.

Starving with cold as well as hunger. --W. Irving.

Note: In this sense, still common in England, but rarely used of the United States.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Starve \Starve\, v. t.

1. To destroy with cold. [Eng.]

From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth. --Milton.

2. To kill with hunger; as, maliciously to starve a man is, in law, murder.

3. To distress or subdue by famine; as, to starvea garrison into a surrender.

Attalus endeavored to starve Italy by stopping their convoy of provisions from Africa. --Arbuthnot.

4. To destroy by want of any kind; as, to starve plans by depriving them of proper light and air.

5. To deprive of force or vigor; to disable.

The pens of historians, writing thereof, seemed starved for matter in an age so fruitful of memorable actions. --Fuller.

The powers of their minds are starved by disuse. --Locke.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)