hungry

adj

Etymology: From Middle English hungry, from Old English hungriġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hungrug, from Proto-Germanic *hungrugaz (“hungry”); equivalent to hunger + -y. Cognate with West Frisian hongerich (“hungry”), Dutch hongerig (“hungry”), German hungrig (“hungry”), Swedish hungrig (“hungry”), Icelandic hungraður (“hungry”).

1. Affected by hunger; having the physical need for food.

   “My kids go to bed hungry every night because I haven’t got much money for food.”

   “He was so hungry he could eat two burgers.”

2. Causing hunger.

   “All this gardening is hungry work.”

3. Eager; having an avid desire or appetite for something.

   “young and hungry”

   “the students are hungry to learn”

4. Not rich or fertile; poor; barren; starved.

   “a hungry soil”

   “[…] What is this? / Your knees to me? to your corrected son? / Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach / Fillip the stars […]”