Consume
[kən'sjuːm] or [kən'sʊm]
Definition
(verb.) engage fully; 'The effort to pass the exam consumed all his energy'.
(verb.) serve oneself to, or consume regularly; 'Have another bowl of chicken soup!'; 'I don't take sugar in my coffee'.
(verb.) 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'.
(verb.) spend extravagantly; 'waste not, want not'.
(verb.) destroy completely; 'The fire consumed the building'.
Typed by Eliza--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To destroy, as by decomposition, dissipation, waste, or fire; to use up; to expend; to waste; to burn up; to eat up; to devour.
(v. i.) To waste away slowly.
Edited by Everett
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Destroy, waste, spend, expend, exhaust, devour, lavish, squander, dissipate, use up.
Editor: Maggie
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Use, appropriate, burn, oat_up, devour, spend, squander, assimilate, occupy,absorb, employ, utilize, waste, destroy, spoil, ravage, expend, pine, wither,decay
ANT:Reject, supersede, disuse, discard
Typed by Avery
Definition
v.t. to destroy by wasting fire evaporation &c.: to use up: to devour: to waste or spend: to exhaust.—v.i. to waste away.—adj. Consum′able.—adv. Consum′edly exceedingly—originally a fantastic variant of confoundedly and prob. influenced in meaning by consummately.—ns. Consum′er as opposed to producer he who uses an article produced; Consum′ing wasting or destroying.
Edited by Alexander
Examples
- If you are one of those who want us to consume it, I differ from you. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- The sun had now got far to the west of south and stood directly in her face, like some merciless incendiary, brand in hand, waiting to consume her. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- The heat-treating department contains about seventy-five large furnaces, which consume from 5,000 to 6,000 gallons of fuel oil per day. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- She threw morsel by morsel into the fire, and stood pensively watching them consume. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The man who buys, does not always mean to sell again, but frequently to use or to consume; whereas he who sells always means to buy again. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- It is for this reason that we consume a large quantity of food. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- I don't deny that the course of action I am now suggesting will cost money, and consume time. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- You throw a torch into a pile of buildings, and when they are consumed you sit among the ruins, and lament the fall. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- The coal in the retorts is not entirely consumed, but is reduced to the condition of coke, and in this form is sold for fuel. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- This sets in motion a train of wheels carrying the hands over the dials which mark the quantity of gas consumed. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- This would be the case, even upon the supposition that the whole French goods imported were to be consumed in Great Britain. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- He has consumed all ours that I can spare. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Nor will the closest inspection of a formation give us any idea of the length of time which its deposition may have consumed. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- The value, therefore, of what has been consumed and produced during these six months, is equal, not to ten, but to twenty pounds. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- On a meat dietary men can live without salt, but grain-consuming people need it just as herbivorous animals need it. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The pin-setter relieves the boy of the major and most time-consuming part of this work. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- With Johnston and him combined, a long, tedious, and expensive campaign, consuming most of the summer, might become necessary. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- But he always said to himself, how happy he had been, how he had loved her with a pure and consuming love ever since he had known her. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- He was inspired by a consuming passion for a new order of human life. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But it may be seriously questioned whether in the aggregate Edison's visitors are less numerous or less time-consuming than his epistolary besiegers. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- They fought with desperate valor, but to no purpose; the odds of heat and numbers, and consuming thirst, were too great against them. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- On the other hand, she consumes so many pounds of beefsteaks and so many pints of porter. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The rich man consumes no more food than his poor neighbour. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- I must for ever conceal the wretchedness that consumes me. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- The annual output in wheels consequently consumes about 4,000,000 pounds, or 2,000 tons of rubber. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Why not lie down and rest myself, and try to quench the fever that consumes me, in sleep? Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- It operates from any light socket and consumes but a very small amount of current, much less than is consumed by a toaster. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
Typist: Nicholas