greedy

From Middle English gredy, from Old English grǣdiġ (“greedy, hungry, eager”), from Proto-Germanic *grēdagaz (“hungry”), from Proto-Germanic *grēdaz, *grēduz, *grēdô (“hunger”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrēdʰ- (“to be hungry, long for”), equivalent to greed +‎ -y. Cognate with Old Saxon grādag ("gladly, willingly" compare Dutch graag), Old High German grātag (“greedy”), Danish grådig (“greedy”) (from Old Norse gráðigr (“greedy”), gráði (“greed, hunger”)), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (grēdags, “hungry”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian ngordh (“to crave for, starve, die”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹiːdi/
• Rhymes: -iːdi

greedy (comparative greedier, superlative greediest)

1. Having greed; consumed by selfish desires.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book II, canto IX, stanza 14, page 311:

     For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     “[…] Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. Oh, dear, there's so much to tell you, so many warnings to give you, but all that must be postponed for the moment.”

2. Prone to overeat.
3. (regular expressions) Tending to match as much text as possible.

   This regular expression performs a greedy match.

4. (computer science, of an algorithm) That tries to find the global optimum by finding the local optimum at each stage.

• (having greed): Thesaurus:greedy
• (prone to overeat): gluttonous

• (tending to match as much text as possible): lazy, nongreedy
• (that finds local optima): nongreedy

• greed (by back-formation)
• greediness
• greedy-guts
• overgreedy

• Sranan Tongo: gridi

• greedy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• greedy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

• greyed