·noun The act or process of consuming by use, waste, ·etc.; decay; destruction.
II. Consumption ·noun The state or process of being consumed, wasted, or diminished; waste; diminution; loss; decay.
III. Consumption ·noun 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.