English Explanatory Dictionary

starve the beast

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To progressively weaken or destroy a dangerous or powerful entity through attrition.
  2. To deprive the federal government of revenue by cutting taxes in an effort to force it to limit spending.

Word forms

starve the beast starves the beast starving the beast starved the beast

Etymology

According to Bruce Bartlett, the second sense was first used by an anonymous Reagan staffer in “We didn’t starve the beast. It’s still eating quite well—by feeding off future generations.”

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary