Definitions for: Eat


[v] cause to deteriorate due to the action of water, air, or an acid; "The acid corroded the metal"; "The steady dripping of water rusted the metal stopper in the sink"
[v] use up, as of resources or materials; "this car consumes a lot of gas"; "We exhausted our savings"; "They run through 20 bottles of wine a week"
[v] eat a meal; take a meal; "We did not eat until 10 P.M. because there were so many phone calls"; "I didn't eat yet, so I gladly accept your invitation"
[v] take in solid food; "She was eating a banana"; "What did you eat for dinner last night?"
[v] take in food; used of animals only; "This dog doesn't eat certain kinds of meat"; "What do whales eat?"
[v] worry or cause anxiety in a persistent way; "What's eating you?"



Webster (1913) Definition: Eat ([=e]t), v. t. [imp. Ate ([=a]t; 277), Obsolescent &
Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. p. Eaten ([=e]t"'n), Obs. or
Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. pr. & vb. n. Eating.] [OE. eten,
AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D. eten, OHG. ezzan,
G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. ["a]ta, Dan. [ae]de, Goth. itan, Ir.
& Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere, Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad. [root]6.
Cf. Etch, Fret to rub, Edible.]
1. To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially
of food not liquid; as, to eat bread. ``To eat grass as
oxen.'' --Dan. iv. 25.

They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps.
cvi. 28.

The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine.
--Gen. xli.
20.

The lion had not eaten the carcass. --1 Kings
xiii. 28.

With stories told of many a feat, How fairy Mab the
junkets eat. --Milton.

The island princes overbold Have eat our substance.
--Tennyson.

His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.
--Thackeray.

2. To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a
cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to
cause to disappear.

To eat humble pie. See under Humble.

To eat of (partitive use). ``Eat of the bread that can not
waste.'' --Keble.

To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the
Citation under Blurt.)

To eat out, to consume completely. ``Eat out the heart and
comfort of it.'' --Tillotson.

To eat the wind out of a vessel (Naut.), to gain slowly to
windward of her.

Syn: To consume; devour; gnaw; corrode.


Eat, v. i.
1. To take food; to feed; especially, to take solid, in
distinction from liquid, food; to board.

He did eat continually at the king's table. --2 Sam.
ix. 13.

2. To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef.

3. To make one's way slowly.

To eat, To eat in or into, to make way by corrosion; to
gnaw; to consume. ``A sword laid by, which eats into
itself.'' --Byron.

To eat to windward (Naut.), to keep the course when
closehauled with but little steering; -- said of a vessel.

Synonyms: consume, corrode, deplete, eat on, eat up, exhaust, run through, rust, use up, wipe out

See Also: banquet, binge, bolt, bolt down, break bread, breakfast, browse, brunch, burn, burn off, burn up, chew, crop, damage, devour, dig in, dine, dine in, dine out, dip, down, drain, drop, dunk, eat in, eat out, englut, engorge, expend, fare, feast, finish, forage, fress, get down, glut, gluttonise, gluttonize, go through, gobble, gobble up, gorge, gormandise, gormandize, gourmandize, graze, gulp, guttle, have, indulge, ingest, ingurgitate, jaw, junket, lunch, luxuriate, manducate, masticate, mess, munch, nibble, nosh, overeat, overgorge, overindulge, pasture, peck, peck at, pick, pick at, pick up, picnic, piece, pig, pig out, pitch in, play out, polish off, range, raven, ruminate, run down, run out, sap, satiate, scarf out, shovel in, slurp, smack, snack, spend, stuff, suckle, swallow, take in, tire, vex, victual, wash down, wolf, wolf down, worry

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