ravenous

From Middle English ravenous, ravynous, from Old French ravineus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹævənəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

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ravenous (comparative more ravenous, superlative most ravenous)

1. Very hungry.
   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it.

   • 1970, Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, page 58:

     You must remember no one had eaten a thing for several days. They were ravenous. So for a while there was no conversation at all. There was only the sound of crunching and chewing as the animals attacked the succulent food.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Biotics: Life as a Biotic Codex entry:

     Biotics possess extraordinary abilities, but they must live with minor inconveniences. The most obvious issue is getting adequate nutrition. Creating biotic mass effects takes such a toll on metabolism that active biotics develop ravenous appetites. The standard Alliance combat ration for a soldier is 3000 calories per day; biotics are given 4500, as well as a canteen of potent energy drink for quick refreshment after hard combat.

   • 2023 February 8, Greg Morse, “Crossing the border... by Sleeper”, in RAIL, number 976, page 43:

     Ravenous, I order one more wine and a selection of cheese and biscuits.

2. Grasping; characterized by strong desires.
   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. IX, Working Aristocracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker):

     Supply-and-demand? One begins to be weary of such work. Leave all to egoism, to ravenous greed of money, of pleasure, of applause: — it is the Gospel of Despair!

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     Mrs. Michael turned out to be a ravenous, fast-fading woman in a slashed skirt and a low blouse over an unappetising chest. While her husband did things in his shed, where he appeared to live, Pym inexpertly mixed the Yorkshire pudding and fought off her embraces...

   • 2003, “Weak and Powerless”, performed by A Perfect Circle:

     Tilling my own grave to keep me level
     Jam another dragon down the hole
     Digging to the rhythm and the echo of a solitary siren
     One that pushes me along and leaves me so
     Desperate and ravenous
     I'm so weak and powerless
     Over you

• starving (colloquial, figuratively)
• See also Thesaurus:voracious

• ravenously
• ravenousness
• ravenous hunger

• voracious