consumption

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)The act of eating, drinking or using.

   “The consumption of snails as food is more common in France than in England.”

   “A Guardia Civil spokesperson said that ayahuasca, San Pedro, toad poison, wild rue and mimosa pudica were prohibited substances in Spain, adding that their consumption was not authorised because, while they were natural substances, they could be highly dangerous to human health.”

2. (uncountable, usually)The amount consumed.

   “gross national consumption”

3. (uncountable, usually)The act of consuming or destroying.

   “The fire's consumption of the forest caused ecological changes.”

   “Driving methods have a direct bearing on fuel consumption with every type of motive power.”

4. (uncountable, usually)The wasting away of the human body through disease.
5. (dated, uncountable, usually)Pulmonary tuberculosis and other diseases that cause wasting away, lung infection, etc.

   “And then as to your ſcurvys, and gouts, rheumatiſms, conſumptions, coughs and catarrhs, tar-vvater and turpentine vvill make you as ſound as a roach.”

6. (dated, euphemistic, uncountable, usually)Alcoholism as it precipitates a person's death (especially of natural causes).