English → Latin
“devour” in Latin
vorōto devour; to eat greedily; to swallow up; to destroy, overwhelmdēvorōto swallow, gulp down, or devour; enjoy; to swallow down, repress, suppress, check, bear with patience; to absorbhauriōto draw (especially water), drain; to drain, drink up, swallow; to take in with the senses as if to drink or swallowabsorbeōto swallow down, devour; to absorb, submerge; to absorb, engrossabsūmōto diminish, take away, use up, consume, exhaust; to ruin, destroy, annihilate, corrupt; to killcōnsūmōto take wholly or completely; to consume, devour, waste, squander, use up; annihilate, destroy, bring to naught; to killcōnficiōto prepare, accomplish, complete, execute; settle, close a bargain; traverse; to produce, cause, bring about, effect, secomedōto eat or chew up; to consume or devour; to fret or chafetābificusmelting, dissolving; wasting; infectiousopsstrength, power, power to help, property; resources, wealth, riches; assistance, help, aid, support
The English word devour itself goes back to Latin vorō, through dēvorō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
devour
vorare: devorare (used also figuratively = to read or learn with avidity): haurire (to suck down, swallow up whole; e.g., of serpents; also figuratively of swallowing up property, opes): absorbere (to suck up, suck in; also figuratively of swallowing greedily; e.g., orationem meam): absumere: consumere (of diseases; also of fire): conficere (of disease; also of grief, longing, etc.). (The words are found in this connection and order.) conficere et consumere: comedere (to eat all up; and IMPROP., to waste PROP., etc.): The fire devours, etc., incendium absumit (domos); haurit (aggerem): to be devoured by the flames, incendio consumi; flammis absumi: to be devoured by grief, aegritudo exest alicujus animum. To devour another’s property (as in “to devour widows’ houses”), aliorum opes devorare; comedere aliquem (Plaut.): to devour with his eyes, oculis devorare (also = read with avidity); aliquid oculis comedere (to fix longing or greedy eyes upon an object): to devour litterature, litteras vorare, devorare; quasi heluare libris (Cic.): anybody’s words, alicujus dicta devorare; anybody’s speech, alicujus orationem absorbere (Cic., ; in the sense of wishing the whole of it, to speak of nobody but himself): to devour food whole, cibos integros haurire (Col.): to devour a stag whole, solidum haurire cervum (Plin.).
To put up with (as in, to devour one’s vexation), devorare (e.g., molestiam: taedium).
Devouring (of flames), omnia hauriens; (of disease) tabificus.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for devour?
- The usual Latin words for “devour” are vorō, dēvorō, hauriō; also absorbeō, absūmō, cōnsūmō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.