Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

line starve
     
        (MIT, opposite of {line feed}) 1. To feed paper through a
        printer the wrong way by one line (most printers can't do
        this).  On a display terminal, to move the cursor up to the
        previous line of the screen.  "To print "X squared", you just
        output "X", line starve, "2", line feed."  (The line starve
        causes the "2" to appear on the line above the "X", and the
        line feed gets back to the original line.)
     
        2. A character (or character sequence) that causes a terminal
        to perform this action.  ASCII 26, also called SUB or
        control-Z, was one common line-starve character in the days
        before {microcomputer}s and the {X3.64} terminal standard.
        Unlike "line feed", "line starve" is *not* standard {ASCII}
        terminology.  Even among hackers it is considered silly.
     
        3. (Proposed) A sequence such as \c (used in {System V}
        {echo}, as well as {nroff} and {troff}) that suppresses a
        {newline} or other character(s) that would normally be
        emitted.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1995-02-03)