Quick Definition
λιμός, οῦ, ὁ, ἡ n.m. a famine, hunger
Strong's Definition
probably from 3007 (through the idea of destitution); a scarcity of food
KJV Usage: dearth, famine, hunger
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, m./f. | -οῦ
23.33 · Physiological Processes and States · Eat, Drink
famine, hunger a widespread lack of food over a considerable period of time and resulting in hunger for many people In a number of languages the only way of talking about a famine is to say ‘many people were very hungry for a long time’ or ‘many people had to go for days without anything to eat.’ It is important to distinguish clearly between a famine and voluntary abstinence from food for the sake of fasting. (See Domain 53H.)
MAT 24:7 · MRK 13:8 · LUK 4:25 · LUK 15:14 · LUK 21:11 · ACT 7:11 · ACT 11:28 · REV 6:8 · REV 18:8
23.31 · Physiological Processes and States · Eat, Drink
to be quite hungry, considerable hunger, lack of food the state of being very hungry, presumably for a considerable period of time and as the result of necessity rather than choice (compare νηστεία[a] ‘fasting,’ 53.65) Terms referring to hunger often distinguish varying degrees of hunger and whether the hunger is by necessity or by choice.
1 λιμός[a] could be classified as a physical event, since a famine results from lack of rainfall or some natural disaster causing crops to fail. However, since a famine is so specifically related to peoples experience of hunger, it seems best to classify λιμός[a] together with other expressions involving lack of food.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
λιμός, -od, 6, (and ἡ in Dorie and later writ.; so L T Tr WH in Lk. xv. 14; Acts xi. 28; so, too, in Is. viii. 21; 1 K. xviii. 2; ef. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 188; [L. and 8. s. v. init.; WH. App. p. 157°}; B.12 (11); W. 63 (62) [ef. 36], and 526 (490)); Sept. very often for 37; hunger: Lk. xv. 17; Ro. vili. 35; ἐν λιμῷ x. δίψει, 2 Co. xi. 27; Xen. mem. 1, 4,13; i. q. scarcity of harvest, famine: Lk. iv. 25; xv.14; Acts vii. 11; xi. 28 [ef. B. 81 (71)]; Rey. vi. 8; xviii. 8; Aol, famines in divers lands, Mk, xiii. 8; λιμοὶ «. λοιμοί, Mt. xxiv. 7 [LT Tr txt. WH om. κι λοιμ.1; Lk. xxi. 11; Theoph. ad Autol. 2,9; the two are joined in the sing. in Hes. opp. 226; Hadt. 7, 171; Philo, vit. Moys. i. § 19; Plut. de Is. et Osir. 47.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
λιμός limos 12x
famine, scarcity of food, want of grain, Mt. 24:7; famine, hunger, famishment, Lk. 15:17; Rom. 8:35
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
λιμός, -οῦ, ὁ
(so in Att.; in Dor. ἡ, and so sometimes in LXX, v. Th., Gr., 146; in NT: Lk 15:14, Ac 11:28; cf. M, Pr., 60), [in LXX chiefly for רָעָב;]
hunger, famine: Lk 4:25 15:14, 17, Ac 7:11(LXX) 11:28, Ro 8:35, Re 6:8 18:8; λ. καὶ δίψος, II Co 11:27; pl., Mt 24:7, Mk 13:8, Lk 21:11.†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
λιμός. The wavering of gender which is found in the NT (6 Lk 4}: ἡ Lk 1514, Ac 1178) meets us again in the papyri— P Par 22% (B.c. 165) τῷ λιμῷ διαλυθῆναι, but in a document of the same collection 26. 264 (B.c. 163-2) ὑπὸ τῆς λιμοῦ διαλυόμεναι. Cf. also 7. 2813 (B.c. 160) where, instead of the simple dat., we have διαλυόμεναι ἐν τῷ λιμῷ. Other exx. are P Petr III. 36 (a) verso "ὃ (Ptol.) ἀξιῶ σε δεόμενος μή pe ἀπολέσηι τῶι λιμῶι ἐν τῆι φυλακῆι, “1 entreat you with prayers not to let me perish of hunger in prison” (Edd.), and P Oxy VI. 9029 (c. A.D. 465) ἐκ τούτου συνέβη τὸ ὑπόλοιπον τῶν ἐμῶν ζῴων TH λιμῷ τεθνάναι, “in consequence of which the remainder of my kine have died of hunger’ (Edd.) : see also Crénert, p. 177. The use of the fem. is generally traced to ‘‘ Doric” influence: cf. Lob. Phryn. p. 188 τὴν λιμὸν Δωριεῖς, σὺ δὲ ἀρσενικῶς τὸν λιμὸν φάθι, Rutherford VP, p. 274, Thumb Hellen. p. 67. The older Attic masc. is usual in the LXX, cf. Thackeray G7. i. p. 146. For the conjunction λοιμοὶ καὶ λιμοί in Lk 21" Boll Offenbarung, p. 131, compares Catal. viii. 3, 186, 1 λιμὸς καὶ λοιμὸς καὶ σφαγαὶ κατὰ τόπους : see also Test, vit. patr. Jud. xxiii. 3, Orac. Sib. viii. 175. The two words are cognate, being connected with the Homeric λοιγός and the Lat. letum.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
λιμός (limos) — hunger. λῑμός, οῦ, ὁ (Doric dialect ἡ, accusative to [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Λ. ἔχων γυναικὸς μορφήν Callisth. cited in [NT+2nd c.BC+]:—hunger, famine, δίψα τε καὶ λ. [Refs 8th c.BC+], referring to the siege of Melos, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II. a hungry wretch, [Refs 4th c.BC+]