n. The act of starving, or the state of being starved. [ 1913 Webster ]
☞ This word 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.
“Starvation, we are also told, belongs to the class of 'vile compounds' from being a mongrel; as if English were not full of mongrels, and as if it would not be in distressing straits without them.” Fitzed. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]