People who are starved of sleep start to lose their concentration and may hallucinate. 1. To cause to starve.

Understanding the Context

2. To force to a specified state by starving: starved the town into submission. If a person or thing is starved of something that they need, they are suffering because they are not getting enough of it. starved, adj.

Key Insights

meanings, etymology, pronunciation and more in the Oxford English Dictionary (colloquial, hyperbolic, emphatic) Extremely hungry. I’m starved! I haven’t eaten since breakfast. I'm starved/starving. to (cause to) feel a strong need or desire: [be + ~-ing + for + object] The child is starving for affection.

Final Thoughts

[~ + object] The children were being starved of affection.