starve the beast

present singular third person starves the beast · participle present starving the beast · participle past starved the beast · past starved the beast

1. USTo progressively weaken or destroy a dangerous or powerful entity through attrition.
2. USgovernmentTo deprive the federal government of revenue by cutting taxes in an effort to force it to limit spending.

   Whatever the mechanism, attempts to starve the beast through revenue shortages somehow seem to make the beast all the more voracious.

   2010 February 22, Catherine Rampell, “A New Social Contract, but Which One?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Oct 2021