01 n. The act or process of consuming by use, waste, etc.; decay; destruction.
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1.
The act or process of consuming by use, waste, etc.; decay; destruction.“Every new advance of the price to the consumer is a new incentive to him to retrench the quality of his consumption.” — Burke.
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2.
The state or process of being consumed, wasted, or diminished; waste; diminution; loss; decay.
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3.
A progressive wasting away of the body; esp., that form of wasting, attendant upon pulmonary phthisis and associated with cough, spitting of blood, hectic fever, etc.; pulmonary phthisis; -- called also pulmonary consumption.(Med.) Also: pulmonary consumption
Phrases & compounds
Consumption of the bowels —
inflammation and ulceration of the intestines from tubercular disease.