I think most (all?) people would understand "starve" to mean to suffer from hunger, rather than to literally die from hunger. Especially from the context.
One would think that the actual dictionary definition of a word, rather than hyperbole, would be the most widely (all?) accepted and understood meaning of a word. Being defined, in a dictionary, and all.
What is the outcome of a flame starved of oxygen? A plant starved of light? A person starved of food?
