stay hungry

stay hungry (third-person singular simple present stays hungry, present participle staying hungry, simple past and past participle stayed hungry)

1. (informal) To maintain a strong motivation to achieve or compete; to avoid complacency.
   • 1979 July 21, "Steeler Veterans Arrive," Youngstown Vindicator, p. 13 (retrieved 8 August 2013):

     They've got three Super Bowl titles under their belts, but the Pittsburgh Steelers talked about staying hungry as the full squad of veterans arrived at training camp Friday.

   • 1991 Jan. 4, Jaime Diaz, "Golf: Light Mood as Golf Season Opens," New York Times (retrieved 8 August 2013):

     Faldo's main challenge will be to stay hungry despite the more than $10 million he has earned in business opportunities.

   • 2008 May 17, Richard Corliss and Mary Corliss, "Cannes Gets Real" (film review of Tyson), Time (retrieved 8 August 2013):

     Tyson was an apt pupil: he obsessively studied old films of boxing legends, learned the spiritual side of the warrior mentality and, he says, "restrained myself from having sex for about five years." . . . But how to stay hungry when you're dining on caviar, sycophancy and willing women?

   • 2013 March 12, Deborah Sweeney, “15 Lessons I Learned From 15 Years In Business,” forbes.com (retrieved 8 August 2013):

     Complacency is the demise of business. Steve Jobs said it best when he said, “stay hungry”.

• Often used in sporting contexts describing a player's or team's commitment to intense athletic competitiveness.