A sensation of dryness in the throat associated with a craving for liquids, produced by deprivation of drink, or by some other cause (as fear, excitement, etc.) which arrests the secretion of the pharyngeal mucous membrane; hence, the condition producing this sensation. Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, and our children . . . with thirst Ex. xvii. 3. With thirst, with cold, with hunger so confounded. Chaucer.
Fig.: A want and eager desire after anything; a craving or longing; -- usually with for, of, or after; as, the thirst for gold. "Thirst of worldy good." Fairfax. "The thirst I had of knowledge." Milton.
To feel thirst; to experience a painful or uneasy sensation of the throat or fauces, as for want of drink. The people thirsted there for water. Ex. xvii. 3.
To have a vehement desire. My soul thirsteth for . . . the living God. Ps. xlii. 2.
To have a thirst for. [R.] He seeks his keeper's flesh, and thirsts his blood. Prior.
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