The verb devour has its etymological origin in the Latin word devorāre. When linked to an animal, it alludes to the act of ingesting prey. For example: “The lion soon devoured the zebra”, “If you are easily impressed, I suggest you stop watching this documentary: I think now the tiger is going to devour a small deer”, “The cubs are very They are fast and do not allow themselves to be easily devoured by their predators.
Animals that sometimes feed on humans are often referred to as man-eaters. Lions, tigers, sharks and crocodiles are among the species that record the highest attacks on people.
Of course, in these cases it usually happens that the human being takes the first step towards his own death when he invades the territory of the animal, either to document its life or, worse still, to hunt it. From our point of view, the animals that hunt people are “dangerous”, but we should start thinking about the image that those bears, deer, lions and many others have of us that will end up embalmed and exposed as trophies.
The idea of devouring is also used when an individual eats in a rush and eagerly: “I’m hungry! I’m going to devour about four or five sandwiches”, “When the little one began to devour the cake with such enthusiasm, I was surprised”, “Do you have to devour food that way? Better not rush and chew calmly “.
In this context, it can be said that devouring food is one of the worst habits if we seek to lead a healthy and balanced life. The body is not prepared to eat food compulsively; on the contrary, it is recommended to eat them in small bites, chew them until they are sufficiently soft or crumbly, depending on the product, and only then swallow them.
Another very useful tip for a proper diet is to drink water several times throughout the meal, and not leave it until the end. Water often helps us to swallow snacks easily, and this can prevent them from getting stuck in our throat.
Devour, on the other hand, can refer to devoting attention or a lot of time to something, consuming it, using it, destroying it or conquering it, depending on the case: “I think I’m going to devour the new Stephen King novel tonight”, “If man continues to act this way, he is going to devour the planet”, “The young singer intends to devour the world”.
If we look at the first example, it can refer to people qualified as “bookworms”, a compound term that is not included in the official dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy although it is used very frequently in everyday speech. This is someone with a special voracity for reading, who may or may not discriminate against the books they consume.
Depending on the point of view and the context in which this word is used, it can have a negative or neutral connotation, as we can see in the following examples: «I am a bookworm by race, so I cannot imagine spending a whole week without reading something because I always have a book pending», «With that attitude of devouring books you do not allow yourself to assimilate what you read and that is not the way to approach literature».
The act of traversing a distance at high speed can also be referred to as devouring: “On leaving the city, the traffic slowed down and we began to devour kilometers”, “People in this region often have 4×4 trucks to devour the dunes of the desert”, “This bike allows me to devour trails of all kinds effortlessly”.
