DEVOURING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Devouring

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/dɪvˈaʊərɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Devour v. t. (past & past part. devoured; pres. part. devouring)

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."

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." "I waste my life and do my days devour."

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."

Synonyms: To consume; waste; destroy; annihilate.

See images of 'Devouring'

Etymology of 'Devouring'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Devouring" Quotes from Famous Books

... meat crushed under his gums, with each glass of cider or wine that flowed through his gullet, he thought he was regaining something of his own property, getting back a little of his money which all those gluttons were devouring, saving in fact, a portion of his own means. And he ate in silence with the obstinacy of a miser who hides his coppers, with the gloomy tenacity which he exhibited in former days in his ...

— The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume IV (of 8) • Guy de Maupassant

... permanently closed yield a full complement of seeds. Pollen contains much nitrogen and phosphorus—the two most precious of all the elements for the growth of plants—but in the case of most open flowers, a large quantity of pollen is consumed by pollen-devouring insects, and a large quantity is destroyed during long-continued rain. With many plants this latter evil is guarded against, as far as is possible, by the anthers opening only during dry weather (10/7. ...

— The Effects of Cross & Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom • Charles Darwin

... some of them were in her arms, some of them fell on her shoulders, and one of them towered over her head. Smothered in gowns, she bounced out of the room like a walking milliner's shop. I have to thank the wretched old creature for a moment of genuine amusement, at a time of devouring anxiety. The meanest insect, they say, has its use in this world—and why not ...

— The Legacy of Cain • Wilkie Collins

... advanced into the light, Charlot recognised them too. In the act of offering a chair he stood, arrested, his eyes devouring first one, then the other of then, with a glance that seemed to have grown oddly sobered. The flush died from his face, and his lips twitched like those of a man who seeks to control his emotions. Then slowly ...

— The Trampling of the Lilies • Rafael Sabatini

... properly belongs in the circular. Link your letter up with the enclosure and lead the reader to it, but do not go into lengthy descriptions in the letter. Concentrate there on getting your man interested. Do that and you may depend on his devouring the enclosures to get the details. A common mistake in this line is to place a table of prices in the body of the letter. It is simply putting the cart before the horse. Price in every sale should be mentioned ...

— Business Correspondence • Anonymous

More quotes...