voracious

comparative more voracious · superlative most voracious

1. Wanting or devouring great quantities of food.

   He is voracious by suppertime.

   4 more examples

   His appetite is voracious by suppertime.

   I never had so much as […] one wish to God to direct me whither I should go, or to keep me from the danger which apparently surrounded me, as well from voracious creatures as cruel savages.

   1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC

   The old man was up, betimes, next morning, and waited impatiently for the appearance of his new associate, who after a delay that seemed interminable, at length presented himself, and commenced a voracious assault on the breakfast.

   1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 45, in Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC

   Retreating before stronger breeds, hungry and voracious, the Eskimo has drifted to the inhospitable polar regions, the Pygmy to the fever-rotten jungles of Africa.

   1917, Jack London, “The Human Drift”, in The Human Drift, New York: Macmillan, page 3

2. Having a great appetite for anything; eager.

   a voracious reader

   4 more examples

   a boy with a voracious and undiscriminating appetite for facts

   If he carried chiefly his appetite, a zeal for tiled bathrooms, a conviction that the Pullman car is the acme of human comfort, and a belief that it is proper to tip waiters, taxicab drivers, and barbers, but under no circumstances station agents and ushers, then his Odyssey will be replete with good meals and bad meals, bathing adventures, compartment-train escapades, and voracious demands for money.

   1922, Walter Lippmann, chapter 7, in Public Opinion

   Methodical and voracious, these hackers wanted all the files they could find.

   2005 August 29, Nathan Thornburgh, “The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies”, in Time

   Phoenix: Moe seems to be a voracious reader. Look at all the hard books he has here.

   2007 March 16, Capcom Production Studio 4, quoting Phoenix, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All, Europe: Capcom, →OCLC, Nintendo DS, scene: Part 3: Investigation, Moe's Room, level/area: Turnabout Big Top

   Synonyms: eager