devour
[verb]
Synonyms:
- eat, consume, gobble, gulp, guzzle, polish off (informal), swallow, wolf
- destroy, annihilate, consume, ravage, waste, wipe out
- enjoy, read compulsively or voraciously, take in

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Contrasted words: avoid, eschew, shun
Related Idioms: eat like a horse, eat one's head off
Related Words: demolish, destroy, ruin, wreck, dissipate, squander, delight (in), enjoy, rejoice (in), relish, revel (in), feast (on), gloat (over or on)

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English Thesaurus: eat, have, feed on something, consume, munch (on) something, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

de‧vour /dɪˈvaʊə $ -ˈvaʊr/ verb [transitive]
[Date: 1300-1400; Language: Old French; Origin: devorer, from Latin vorare 'to swallow']

1. to eat something quickly because you are very hungry:
The boys devoured their pancakes.

2. to read something quickly and eagerly, or watch something with great interest:
He devoured science fiction books.

3. be devoured by something to be filled with a strong feeling that seems to control you:
Cindy felt devoured by jealousy.

4. literary to destroy someone or something:
Her body had been almost entirely devoured by the disease.

5. to use up all of something:
a job that devours all my energy

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

devour
verb
ADV. eagerly, greedily, hungrily He devoured the food greedily.
quickly The animal quickly devoured its prey.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

eat to put food in your mouth and chew and swallow it:
Experts recommend eating plenty of fruit and vegetables.
have to eat a particular food:
‘What do you usually have for breakfast?’ ‘I usually just have coffee and toast.’
We had the set meal.
feed on something to eat a particular kind of food – used when talking about animals:
Foxes feed on a wide range of foods including mice, birds, insects, and fruit.
consume written to eat or drink something – used especially in scientific or technical contexts:
Babies consume large amounts relative to their body weight.
munch (on) something to eat something with big continuous movements of your mouth, especially when you are enjoying your food:
He was munching on an apple.
They were sitting on a bench munching their sandwiches.
nibble (on) something to eat something by biting off very small pieces:
If you want a healthy snack, why not just nibble on a carrot?
pick at something to eat only a small amount of your food because you are not hungry or do not like the food:
Lisa was so upset that she could only pick at her food.
stuff/gorge yourself to eat so much food that you cannot eat anything else:
He’s always stuffing himself with cakes.
We gorged ourselves on my mother’s delicious apple tart.
slurp to eat soup, noodles etc with a noisy sucking sound:
In England it’s considered rude to slurp your soup, but in some countries it’s seen as a sign of enjoyment.
gobble something up/down informal to eat something very quickly, especially because you like it very much or you are greedy:
You’ve gobbled up all the ice-cream!
The children gobbled it down in no time.
wolf something down informal to eat food quickly, especially because you are very hungry or in a hurry:
The boy wolfed down everything on his plate and asked for more.
bolt something down British English to eat food very quickly, especially because you are in a hurry:
He bolted down his breakfast and was out of the door within 5 minutes.
You shouldn’t bolt your food down like that.
devour /dɪˈvaʊə $ -ˈvaʊr/ especially written to eat all of something quickly because you are very hungry:
In a very short time, the snake had devoured the whole animal.
be on a diet to be eating less or different food than normal in order to become thinner:
No cake thanks – I’m on a diet.
fast to not eat for a period of time, often for religious reasons:
Muslim people fast during the month of Ramadan.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

read to look at and understand the words in a book, magazine, letter etc for interest, enjoyment, or study:
What book are you reading at the moment?
I usually read the newspaper on the way to work.
flick/flip/leaf through something to turn the pages of a book, magazine etc quickly, looking for things that might interest you:
While I was waiting, I flicked through a magazine.
She was flipping through the pages of an encyclopedia.
Cunningham was leafing through a copy of the Financial Times at his desk amidst a cloud of cigar-smoke.
browse through something to spend time looking through a book, magazine etc without any clear purpose, looking for things that might interest you:
Would you like to browse through our holiday brochure?
skim/scan (through) something to read something quickly to get the main ideas or find a particular piece of information:
I want you to skim through the article and write a short summary of it.
Tony scanned the menu for a vegetarian option.
pore over something to read something very carefully for a long time:
They spent weeks poring over guidebooks and planning their holiday.
devour something /dɪˈvaʊə $ -ˈvaʊr/ to read something quickly and eagerly:
Her young fans devour her books.
dip into something to read short parts of something:
It’s a book you can dip into rather than read from cover to cover.
plough/wade through something to read something long and boring:
He’s upstairs ploughing through financial reports.
I can’t possibly wade through all this.
surf the Net/Internet/Web to look quickly through information on the Internet, stopping to read what interests you:
I was surfing the Net, trying to find my ideal job.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲