ravenous

adj

Etymology: From Middle English ravenous, ravynous, from Old French ravineus. By surface analysis, ravin + -ous. As seen at raven and ravin, the word comes from a root referring to predation, not from the root referring to ravens (corvid birds); but folk etymology notes that the latter hypothesis seems plausible because ravens can often seem ravenous (especially as nestlings).

1. Very hungry.

   “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.”

   “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.”

2. Greedy, characterized by strong desires.

   “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!”

   “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...”