devour
VerbUS[dih-vou-er]/dɪˈvaʊɚ/3 syllables
Open English WordNet
Verb (4)devours, devoured, devouring
- to consume“Fire had devoured our home”More general destroy, ruin
- enjoy avidly“She devoured his novels”More general enjoy, bask
- eat up completely, as with great appetite“Some people can down a pound of meat in the course of one meal”“The teenagers demolished four pizzas among them”Synonyms: demolishdownconsumego throughMore general eat up, finish
- eat greedily“he devoured three sandwiches”Synonyms: guttleravenpigMore general eat
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
De·vour′ transitive verb [past tense & past participle Devoured; present participle & verbal noun Devouring.]
Origin: F. dévorer, fr. L. devorare; de + vorare to eat greedily, swallow up. See Voracious.
1. 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.— Gen. xxxvii. 20.
2. 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.— Ezek. vii. 15.
I waste my life and do my days devour.— Edmund Spenser
3. 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.— John Dryden
Synonyms: To consume; waste; destroy; annihilate.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54