“As per Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Twelfth South Asian Edition, Page 307), one of the meanings assigned to the verb ‘consume’, derived from latin ‘consumere’ (con – ‘altogether’ + sumere – ‘take out’), is ‘eat, drink or ingest – use up – (especially of a fire) completely destroy’. The noun derived from this verb is ‘consumption’, which has been assigned one of the meanings in the same dictionary as ‘the action or process of consuming – an amount consumed’.

Similarly, as per Black’s Law Dictionary (Tenth Edition, Page 382), the word ‘consume’ signifies, amongst others, ‘to destroy the substance… by fire; to use up or wear out gradually, as by burning or eating’; ‘to use up (time, resources, etc.), whether fruitfully or fruitlessly’; and ‘to eat or drink; to devour’. The word ‘consumption’ has been defined therein being ‘the act of destroying a thing by using it; the use of a thing in a way that exhausts it’.”

As noticed, several of the meanings of the expressions “consume” and “consumption” denote using up a particular thing in a way that results in complete exhaustion of that thing.

To put it in different words, in ‘use’, a thing shall be employed for the accomplishment of a purpose but in ‘consume’, the thing shall not only be employed but shall also get absorbed or devoured in accomplishment of the purpose.”

– Hon’ble Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, The Commercial Tax Officer v. Mohan Breweries and Distilleries Ltd., [Civil Appeal No. 7164 of 2013].