Dictionary definition of “starvation corner”

starvation corner

n. a literal or notional place of little sustenance, especially that part of a large gathering (a banquet, mealtime in a dining hall, a family get-together, etc.) in which food has yet to be served or eaten. Subjects: English, Colloquial

Editorial Note: Often capitalized as if it is a proper noun. The 1884 citation may be a jocular reference to “cornering” the market on starvation.

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Citations: 1847 [Landshark, Harpoon & Company] Zion’s Herald and Wesleyan Journal (Mar. 3) “Temperance” p. 36: The Fuddle Hotel richly merits our encomiums of praise.…It is situated in the center of Poverty Hollow, on the broad road that leads to Destruction, and within sight of Lazy Plains, Starvation Corner and Battle Hill. 1884 National Police Gazette (May 17) vol. 44, no. 347, p. 2: Mr. Keene was the person who worked up the starvation corner in grain a couple of years ago. He would have starved the poor men of America if he could in order to have swelled his bank account. 1936 George Orwell A Clergyman’s Daughter p. 199 @ (June, 1969): This is—Starvation Corner, this is. Cripes! Couldn’t I do a couple of them sausages! 1945 Kingston Daily Freeman (New York) (May 10) “Banquet Films Banned” p. 12: Authorities at Nice have cut out banquet scenes from movies sine cinema-goers rioted at seeing plates of caviar and salmon in the movie “Andy Hardy Goes to Town.” The Riviera, playground of millionaires, has been re-named “Starvation Corner.” 1945 Time (Oct. 1) “Where’s the Ceiling?”: U.S. home construction, on starvation corner for the past three years, became the first industry to get a full-ripe postwar plum. 1963 Holmes Alexander Reno Evening Gazette (Nevada) (May 28) “The Two Newest States Treated Like Stepchildren” p. 4: Militarily and economically they seem to be sitting at the starvation corner of the family table. 1963 Susanne Shaw, Douglas Johnson Newport Mercury and Weekly News (Rhode Island) (Oct. 4) “Teen Scene” p. 6: What Cafeteria III table serves as both a Starvation Corner and a Lonely Hearts Club during third lunch? 1967 Vera Glaser Lima News (Ohio) (Mar. 27) “Tall, Tough Marine General’s Top Aide” p. 12: It would be hard for me to shift from the barracks to BOQ. In the officers’ mess, I would be all the way down to starvation corner, at the end of the table. I’d rather be the senior enlisted man. 1983 James Cable @ oyal Institute of International Affairs International Affairs (United Kingdom) (Summer) “Interdependence: A Drug of Addiction?” vol. 59, no. 3, p. 373: In 1945 opponents of the American Loan denounced its acceptance as “an economic Munich,” to which [John Maynard] Keynes retorted that the alternative was “starvation corner.” 1984 Ann Landers Hartford Courant (Connecticut) (Dec. 13) “‘Good Provider’ Who Gives Nothing of Himself Is No Gem” p. F8: The man is immature, selfish, unloving, faithful and no bargain no matter how you look at it. He has relegated you to a starvation corner.…He gives nothing of himself. 2003 Susan Fales-Hill Always Wear Joy: My Mother Bold and Beautiful (Apr. 15) p. 79: Dorothy Mitchell Fales gathered her entire family at her rectangular table, adding and removing leaves depending on which sons or grandchildren were in attendance. At our peak, we were fourteen. The children would sit by order of seniority, the youngest occupying “starvation corner,” the last part of the table to be served. 2007 Aig Imoukhuede Vanguard (Apapa, Lagos State, Nigeria) (Jan. 17) “On candid camera”: I was sitting in what is known as “starvation corner”, that arid patch of hungry guests surrounded by a sea of luckier guests unabashedly stuffing themselves with food.

Posted 18 Jan 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

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