Thirst
Pronunciation
- enPR: thûrst
- UK IPA: /θɜËst/
- US IPA: /θÉst/
- Rhymes: -ÉœË(ɹ)st
Origin
From Old English þurst, form Western Proto-Germanic *þurstuz, from Proto-Indo-European *ters- ("dry"). Cognates include Old High German thurst, Middle High German durst, German Durst, Old Saxon thurst, Old Dutch thursti, Middle Dutch dorst, dorste, Dutch dorst, Old Norse þorsti (Swedish törst, Icelandic þorsti, Danish tørst, Norwegian tørst), non-Germanic: Ancient Greek Ï„ÎÏσομαι, Albanian djersë ("sweat"), Sanskrit तृषà¥à¤¯à¤¤à¤¿ and Latin terra.
Full definition of thirst
Noun
thirst
(plural thirsts)- A sensation of dryness in the throat associated with a craving for liquids, produced by deprivation of drink, or by some other cause (as fear, excitement, etc.) which arrests the secretion of the pharyngeal mucous membrane; hence, the condition producing this sensation.
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot (novel) Chapter IV"We haven't one chance for life in a hundred thousand if we don't find food and water upon Caprona. This water coming out of the cliff is not salt; but neither is it fit to drink, though each of us has drunk. It is fair to assume that inland the river is fed by pure streams, that there are fruits and herbs and game. Shall we lie out here and die of thirst and starvation with a land of plenty possibly only a few hundred yards away? We have the means for navigating a subterranean river. Are we too cowardly to utilize this means?"
- figuratively A want and eager desire after anything; a craving or longing; — usually with for, of, or after; as, the thirst for gold.