devour

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verb de·vour \di-ˈvau̇(-ə)r, dē-\

Definition of devour

transitive verb
1 : to eat up greedily or ravenously devoured the turkey and mashed potatoes
2 : to use up or destroy as if by eating We are devouring the world's resources.
3 : to prey upon devoured by guilt
4 : to enjoy avidly devours books

devourer

noun

See devour defined for English-language learners

See devour defined for kids

Examples of devour in a Sentence

He devoured everything on his plate.
The lions devoured their prey.
She devoured every golf magazine she could find.
He watched intently, devouring the scene before him with his eyes.

Recent Examples of devour from the Web

Many attendees at the Hay Festival relate to that urge to devour texts and knowledge.

— sara miller llana, The Christian Science Monitor, "The end of books? Tell that to 250,000 readers at the Hay Festival.", 2 June 2017
In the nine days the Warriors rested after the Western Conference finals, Durant devoured film and scouting notes on James, focusing mostly on defense.

— adam kilgore, chicagotribune.com, "Kevin Durant has been losing to LeBron James his entire career. That might be about to change.", 2 June 2017
But in googly-eyed splendor, the Muppet quickly devoured it.

— amanda l gordon, Bloomberg.com, "John Mack Joins Cookie Monster, Elmo for Sesame Workshop Benefit", 1 June 2017
But the silent era was dominated by this scenery-devouring 1920 John Barrymore version, directed by John S. Robertson, which SIFF will screen with a live score by The Invincible Czars.

— seattle times staff, The Seattle Times, "SIFF 2017: Highlights of the film festival’s third week", 31 May 2017
Adjacent to the town was a gigantic rail yard where switch engines moved and assembled incoming boxcars into long trains, which would then be towed, to distant cities where their contents would be devoured for the war effort.

— Cincinnati.com, "Column: The old printer memories", 31 May 2017
In January, an eastern brown snake, one of the world’s most venomous, startled a woman in Australia by devouring an entire carpet python on her patio.

— christina nunez, National Geographic, "Snake Regurgitates Another Snake in Startling Video", 29 May 2017
Davis runner devours field, seeks more at CIF State Track finals Michael Vernau of Davis High School wins his third successive 3,200-meter Masters championship and eyes a medal effort in the CIF State meet this weekend.

— sacbee, "Sports Night: Sac State wins WAC title", 27 May 2017
This handheld vac easily devoured everything from rocks to bobby pins in our tests.

— daniel dumas, WIRED, "Review: DYSON ROOT 6 HANDHELD VACUUM", 23 Jan. 2007

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'devour'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of devour

Middle English, from Anglo-French devour-, stem of devorer, from Latin devorare, from de- + vorare to devour — more at voracious

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First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

DEVOUR Defined for Kids

devour

play

verb de·vour \di-ˈvau̇r\

Definition of devour for Students

devoured

;

devouring

1 : to eat up hungrily
2 : to take in eagerly by the senses or mind He devoured the information.
3 : to destroy as if by eating The buildings were devoured by flames.

Word Root of devour

The Latin word vorāre, meaning “to eat greedily,” gives us the root vor. Words from the Latin vorāre have something to do with eating. An herbivorous animal eats only plants. A carnivorous animal eats only other animals. To devour is to eat up greedily. Anyone voracious likes to eat a lot.