Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An eating disorder, common especially among young women of normal or nearly normal weight, that is characterized by episodic binge eating and followed by feelings of guilt, depression, and self-condemnation. It is often associated with measures taken to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, the use of laxatives, dieting, or fasting.
  • noun Excessive or insatiable appetite.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Morbidly voracious appetite; a disease in which the patient has a constant and insatiable craving for food. Also written bulimy, boulimia, boulimy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) A disease in which there is a perpetual and insatiable appetite for food; a diseased and voracious appetite.
  • noun a disordered eating habit characterized by occasional episodes of excessive eating, followed by self-induced vomiting or abuse of laxatives, to avoid gaining weight; it is often accompanied by feelings of guilt; -- called also bulimia nervosa and binge-purge syndrome. It is observed mainly in young women of normal weight.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the chronic eating disorder bulimia nervosa

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun pathologically insatiable hunger (especially when caused by brain lesions)
  • noun a disorder of eating seen among young women who go on eating binges and then feel guilt and depression and self-condemnation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin būlīmia, from Greek boulīmiā : bous, ox; see gwou- in Indo-European roots + līmos, hunger.]

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