famine

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French famine, itself from the root of Latin fames. Cognate with Spanish hambruna (“famine”).

noun

1. (uncountable) Extreme shortage of food in a region.
   It was reserved for Christians to torture bread, the staff of life, bread for which children in whole districts wail, bread, the gift of pasture to the poor, bread, for want of which thousands of our fellow beings annually perish by famine; it was reserved for Christians to torture the material of bread by fire, to create a chemical and maddening poison, burning up the brain and brutalizing the soul, and producing evils to humanity, in comparison of which, war, pestilence, and famine, cease to be evils. 15 July 1831, “Of the Blood”, in Western Journal of Health, volume 4, number 1, L. B. Lincoln, page 38
   Dr. Bhatia pointed out that famine had occurred in all ages and in all societies where means of communication and transport were not developed. 1971, Central Institute of Research & Training in Public Cooperation
2. (countable) A period of extreme shortage of food in a region.
   1986, United States Congress, House Select Committee on Hunger, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Famine and Recovery in Africa The root causes of the current famine are known: poverty, low health standards....
3. (dated) Starvation or malnutrition.
   His own flesh, however, which he lost by famine, shall be restored to him by Him who can recover even what has evaporated. 1871 (orig. 426), Augustine, The City of God, transl. Marcus Dods
4. Severe shortage or lack of something.
   the Lancashire Cotton Famine