devour

(dĭ-vour')
tr.v., -voured, -vour·ing, -vours.

1. To eat up greedily. See synonyms at eat.
2. To destroy, consume, or waste: Flames devoured the structure in minutes.
3. To take in eagerly: devour a novel.
4. To prey upon voraciously: was devoured by jealousy.

[Middle English devouren, from Old French devourer, from Latin dēvorāre : dē-, de- + vorāre, to swallow.]

devourer de·vour'er n.
devouringly de·vour'ing·ly adv.

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verb

1. To eat completely or entirely: consume, dispatch, eat up. Informal polish off, put away. See ingestion.
2. To take (food) into the body as nourishment: consume, eat, fare, ingest, partake. Slang chow. Idioms: break bread, havetakea bite. See ingestion.
3. To do away with completely and destructively: consume, eat (up), swallow (up), waste. See help/harm/harmless.
4. To use up foolishly or needlessly: consume, dissipate, squander, waste. See save/waste.
5. To be avidly interested in: eat up, feast on, relish. See concern/unconcern.

v

Definition: swallow, consume
Antonyms: abstain, pick

IN BRIEF: To eat up greedily or to destroy as if by eating.

It is better to fall among crows than flatterers; for those devour only the dead — these the living. — Antisthenes (444-371 BC).

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sign description: The sign for EAT is combined with the both hands making a grabbing motion.

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Being eaten in a dream can reflect our feelings of being "eaten up" by someone or by the demands of our lives. If we are the devourer, then it can indicate that we are hungering for something, or that we are possessive. Being swallowed whole by a large creature is a widespread shamanic motif for personal transformation (e.g., Jonah and the whale). (See also Eating; Hunger).

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For a list of words related to devour, see:

• Eating Verbs - devour: eat voraciously, often to excess
• Violent Actions - devour: destroy by consuming

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See words rhyming with "devourer."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Devour.

Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - sluge, fortære, besætte, overvælde

Nederlands (Dutch)
verslinden, verteren (figuurlijk)

Français (French)
v. tr. - dévorer, engloutir, (fig) engloutir, consumer

Deutsch (German)
v. - verschlingen, verzehren

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - καταβροχθίζω, κατατρώγω, αφανίζω, ρημάζω

Italiano (Italian)
divorare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - devorar

Русский (Russian)
пожирать

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - devorar, engullir, comer, tragar, absorber

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - sluka, förinta

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
吞食, 吞没, 挥霍

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 吞食, 吞沒, 揮霍

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 뚫어지게 쳐다보다, (어둠 등이) 집어 삼키다, 게걸스럽게 먹어 치우다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - むさぼり食う, 滅ぼす, 心をすっかり奪う, むさぼるように読む, 夢中にさせる

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يلتهم شئ وبخاصه بسبب الجوع, يفترس, , يقرأ أو ينظر على شئ بتلهف وبسرعه, يبيد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮זלל, אכל, טרף‬

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