Star-vā'tion, n.

n. The act of starving, or the state of being starved.

☞ This word has been erroneously called an Americanism, and incorrectly said to be of recent origin. It was first used, according to Horace Walpole, by Henry Dundas, the first Lord Melville, in a speech on American affairs in 1775, which obtained for him the nickname of Starvation Dundas. Richardson says, “It is, I think, a solitary instance of this Latin termination to a native English word;” but flirtation is a kindred example.