famishment

plural famishments

1. countableliteraryuncountableThe state or process of being famished.

   He churned the emptiness of my stomach, and stirred the fury of my famishment.

   1991, Ben Okri, The Famished Road, New York: Nan A. Talese, published 1992, Section 1, Book 5, Chapter 2, p. 329

   3 more examples

   Sith you will not attend true Wisedoms Words, Laugh and bee fatt, sith al you touch is Gold, Though that foode your Soules famishment affordes.

   c. 1605, John Davies, “I said unto Laughter, what art thou mad?”, in Wittes Pilgrimage

   […] among the French planters, the slaves are in a condition of almost utter famishment during the great portion of the year.

   1838, Authentic Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave, Boston: Isaac Knapp, Appendix, page 106

   As the young Cuban tasted his flesh, his tropical appetite long depressed by the North American dryness suddenly revived, and brought to his mind the thought of his long famishment.

   1957, James Purdy, “The Pupil”, in The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy, New York: Liveright, published 2013, page 682

   Synonyms: hunger, inanition, malnourishment, starvation

2. countableobsoleteuncountableFamine.

   And there ſhalbe erthquakes / in all quarters / and famyſſhment / and troubles.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark xiij:[8], folio lxiiij, verso