Adjacent Words

Consume definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONSUME, v.t. [L., to take. So in English we say, it takes up time, that is, it consumes time.]
1. To destroy, by separating the parts of a thing, by decomposition, as by fire, or eating, devouring, and annihilating the form of a substance. Fire consumes wood, coal, stubble; animals consume flesh and vegetables.
2. To destroy by dissipating or by use; to expend; to waste; to squander; as, to consume an estate.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. James 4.
3. To spend; to cause to pass away, as time; as, to consume the day in idleness.
Their days did he consume in vanity. Psalms 78.
4. To cause to disappear; to waste slowly.
My flesh is consumed away. Job 38.
5. To destroy; to bring to utter ruin; to exterminate.
Let me alone-- that I may consume them. Exodus 32.
CONSUME, v.i. To waste away slowly; to be exhausted.
Their flesh--their eyes--their tongue shall consume away. Zechariah 14.
The wicked shall perish--they shall consume. Psalms 37.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: eat immoderately; "Some people can down a pound of meat in the course of one meal" [syn: devour, down, consume, go through]
2: serve oneself to, or consume regularly; "Have another bowl of chicken soup!"; "I don't take sugar in my coffee" [syn: consume, ingest, take in, take, have] [ant: abstain, desist, refrain]
3: spend extravagantly; "waste not, want not" [syn: consume, squander, waste, ware]
4: destroy completely; "The fire consumed the building"
5: use up (resources or materials); "this car consumes a lot of gas"; "We exhausted our savings"; "They run through 20 bottles of wine a week" [syn: consume, eat up, use up, eat, deplete, exhaust, run through, wipe out]
6: engage fully; "The effort to pass the exam consumed all his energy"

Merriam Webster's

verb (consumed; consuming) Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French or Latin; Middle French consumer, from Latin consumere, from com- + sumere to take up, take, from sub- up + emere to take — more at sub-, redeem Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to do away with completely ; destroy <fire consumed several buildings> 2. a. to spend wastefully ; squander b. use up <writing consumed much of his time> 3. a. to eat or drink especially in great quantity <consumed several bags of pretzels> b. to enjoy avidly ; devour <mysteries, which she consumes for fun — E. R. Lipson> 4. to engage fully ; engross <consumed with curiosity> 5. to utilize as a customer <consume goods and services> intransitive verb 1. to waste or burn away ; perish 2. to utilize economic goods

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 eat or drink. 2 completely destroy; reduce to nothing or to tiny particles (fire consumed the building). 3 (as consumed adj.) possessed by or entirely taken up (foll. by with : consumed with rage). 4 use up (time, energy, etc.). Derivatives: consumingly adv. Etymology: ME f. L consumere (as com-, sumere sumpt- take up): partly through F consumer

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Consume Con*sume", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Consumed; p. pr. & vb. n. Consuming.] [L. consumere to take wholly or complectely, to consume; con- + sumere to take; sub + emere to buv. See Redeem.] To destroy, as by decomposition, dissipation, waste, or fire; to use up; to expend; to waste; to burn up; to eat up; to devour. If he were putting to my house the brand That shall consume it. --Shak. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume. --Matt. vi. 20 (Rev. Ver. ). Let me alone . . . that I may consume them. --Ex. xxxii. 10. Syn: To destroy; swallow up; ingulf; absorb; waste; exhaust; spend; expend; squander; lavish; dissipate.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Consume Con*sume", v. i. To waste away slowly. Therefore, let Renedick, like covered fire, Consume away in sighs. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(consumes, consuming, consumed) 1. If you consume something, you eat or drink it. (FORMAL) Many people experienced a drop in their cholesterol levels when they consumed oat bran. VERB: V n 2. To consume an amount of fuel, energy, or time means to use it up. Some of the most efficient refrigerators consume 70 percent less electricity than traditional models. VERB: V n 3. If a feeling or idea consumes you, it affects you very strongly indeed. The memories consumed him. VERB: V n 4. see also consumed, consuming

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kon-sum' (akhal, kalah, tamam; analisko): In Old Testament 'akhal ("to eat," "devour") occurs very frequently, and is translated "consumed" (Ge 31:40; Ex 15:7; Ps 78:63, etc.); kalah ("to finish") is also frequently translated "consume," "consumed" (Ge 41:30; Ex 32:10; Ps 59:13, etc.); tamam, "to be perfect," "finished" (Nu 17:13; De 2:15; Ps 73:19, etc.). There are many other words translated "consume" and "consumed," e.g. cuph, "to end" (Jer 8:13; Zec 1:2,3); balah, "to fade," "wear away" (Job 13:28; Ps 49:14); gazal, implying violence (Job 24:19); caphah, "to end" (Ge 19:15,17; Isa 7:20, etc.); ashesh, "to be old" (Ps 6:7; 31:9,10 the King James Version); maqaq, "to become completed" (Eze 4:17; Zec 14:12 bis); `asah kalah is rendered "utterly consume" (Ne 9:31); analisko, "to use up," occurs in Lu 9:54; Ga 5:15; 2Th 2:8 (the King James Version); dapanao, "to spend," is translated "consume" in Jas 4:3 (the Revised Version (British and American) "spend"); katanalisko, "to consume utterly," occurs only in Heb 12:29; "for our God is a consuming fire."

In the Revised Version (British and American) "devour," "devoured" are several times substituted for "consume," "consumed," e.g. Job 20:26; Jer 49:27; Nu 16:35; "boil well" (Eze 24:10); for "be consumed with dying" (Nu 17:13), "perish all of us"; "consume" is substituted for "corrupt" in Mt 6:19; "my spirit is consumed," for "my breath is corrupt" (Job 17:1); instead of "the flame consumeth the chaff" (Isa 5:24) we have "as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame"; and for "whom the Lord shall consume" (2Th 2:8), the Revised Version (British and American) reads (after a different text) "whom the Lord Jesus shall slay," "consume" in the American Revised Version, margin.

W. L. Walker

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Destroy, waste, spend, expend, exhaust, devour, lavish, squander, dissipate, use up. II. v. n. Waste away, be exhausted, perish, decay, vanish out of being.

Moby Thesaurus

Sanforize, abate, ablate, absorb, annihilate, assimilate, atomize, atrophy, attenuate, bate, be eaten away, bestow, bleed white, blow, break up, bring to ruin, burn down, burn up, come apart, condemn, confound, consecrate to, consume away, corrode, crack up, cremate, crumble, crumble into dust, damn, deal destruction, decay, decimate, decline, decompose, decrease, dedicate to, deliquesce, demolish, deplete, depreciate, depredate, desolate, despoil, destroy, devastate, devote, devour, die away, digest, diminish, disintegrate, disjoin, disorganize, dispatch, dispose of, dissipate, dissolve, dive, do in, down, drain, drain of resources, dribble away, drink up, drop, drop off, dry up, dwindle, eat, eat up, ebb, emacerate, emaciate, employ, engorge, engross, erode, exhaust, expend, fall, fall away, fall off, fall to pieces, finish, finish off, fission, fritter away, get away with, get down, give over to, give to, gobble, gobble up, gorge, gulp, gulp down, gut, gut with fire, guzzle, havoc, impoverish, incendiarize, incinerate, ingest, inhale, languish, lavish, lay in ruins, lay waste, lessen, let up, lose, macerate, melt away, molder, obsess, occupy, overcome, overwhelm, parch, pass, pine away, plummet, plunge, polish off, preoccupy, preshrink, punish, put away, put down, put in, ravage, raze, reduce, reduce to ashes, ruin, ruinate, run low, run to seed, run to waste, sag, sear, sew up, shift, shipwreck, shrink, shrivel, sink, spend, spill, split, squander, subside, suck dry, surround, swallow, swallow up, swill, tail off, take down, take in, thin, throw away, throw into disorder, total, tuck in, unleash destruction, unleash the hurricane, upheave, use up, vandalize, vaporize, wane, waste, waste away, wear, wear away, wear out, weazen, while, while away, wile, wither, wither away, wizen, wolf, wrack, wreak havoc, wreck