devour
UK /dɪˈvaʊə(ɹ)/ · US /dɪˈvaʊɚ/ verb
Forms devours devouring devoured
- verb (transitive) To eat quickly, greedily, hungrily, or ravenously.
- verb (transitive, idiomatic) To rapidly destroy, engulf, or lay waste. “The fire was devouring the building.”
- verb (transitive, idiomatic) To take in avidly with the intellect or with one's gaze. “She intended to devour the book.”
- verb (transitive, idiomatic) To absorb or engross the mind fully, especially in a destructive manner. “After the death of his wife, he was devoured by grief.”
- verb (originally drag slang, Internet slang, intransitive) Synonym of eat: to be very good at something; to slay. “She devoured! She left no crumbs!”
Synonyms
gobble gorge wolf engorge consume devastate overwhelm go hard kick ass bang eat eat and leave no crumbs excel kick rock rule shine slap slay down go through guttle raven pig
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English devouren, from Old French devorer (Modern French dévorer), from Latin dēvorō, from vorō.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To eat up with greediness; to consume ravenously; to feast upon like a wild beast or a glutton; to prey upon.
- verb To seize upon and destroy or appropriate greedily, selfishly, or wantonly; to consume; to swallow up; to use up; to waste; to annihilate.
Etymology [F. dévorer, fr. L. devorare; de + vorare to eat greedily, swallow up. See Voracious.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “devour”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details