Definition
nounA sensation of dryness in the throat associated with a craving for liquids, produced by deprivation of drink, or by some other cause (such as fear, excitement, etc.) which stops the secretion of the pharyngeal mucous membrane.
nounThe condition producing the sensation of thirst.
Sentence Examples
Our people thirst for independence.
I'm dying of thirst.
The man died of thirst in a dry country.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ters-
Proto-Indo-European *-tus
Proto-Indo-European *térstus
Proto-Germanic *þurstuz
Proto-West Germanic *þurstu
Old English þurst
Old English þyrstaninflu.
Middle English thirst
English thirst
From Middle English thirst, thurst, from Old English þurst, from Proto-West Germanic *þurstu, from Proto-Germanic *þurstuz, from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”).
Germanic 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, Faroese tosti, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål tørst, Norwegian Nynorsk tørste). Indo-European cognates include Ancient Greek τέρσομαι (térsomai), Albanian djersë (“sweat”), Sanskrit तृष्णा (tṛṣṇā, “desire; thirst”), Sanskrit तृष्यति (tṛ́ṣyati), Latin terra, Latin torridus.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
""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?""
— 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:
"The people thirsted there for water."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 17:3:
"My soul thirsteth for […] the living God."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 42:2:
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 5:6: