feeder

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: feed=er

CIDE DICTIONARY

feeder, n. 

•  One who, or that which, gives food or supplies nourishment; steward.  [1913 Webster]

  "A couple of friends, his chaplain and feeder."  [1913 Webster]
•  One who furnishes incentives; an encourager.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  One who eats or feeds; specifically, an animal to be fed or fattened.  [1913 Webster]

  "With eager feeding, food doth choke the feeder."  [1913 Webster]
•  One who fattens cattle for slaughter.  [1913 Webster]
•  A stream that flows into another body of water; a tributary; specifically (Hydraulic Engin.), a water course which supplies a canal or reservoir by gravitation or natural flow.  [1913 Webster]
•  A branch railroad, stage line, air route, or the like; a side line which increases the business of the main line.  [1913 Webster]
•  A small lateral lode falling into the main lode or mineral vein.  [1913 Webster]
•  An auxiliary part of a machine which supplies or leads along the material operated upon.  [1913 Webster]
•  A device for supplying steam boilers with water as needed.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

feeder, n.
1 a person or thing that feeds.
2 a person who eats in a specified manner.
3 a child's feeding-bottle.
4 Brit. a bib for an infant.
5 a tributary stream.
6 a branch road, railway line, etc., linking outlying districts with a main communication system.
7 Electr. a main carrying electricity to a distribution point.
8 a hopper or feeding apparatus in a machine.

THESAURUS

feeder

Brillat-Savarin, L, Lucullus, Roscius, actor, actress, affluent, antagonist, antihero, bad guy, barnstormer, bayou, billabong, bit, bit part, board-and-roomer, boarder, bon vivant, branch, cable railway, cannibal, carnivore, cast, character, character actor, character man, character woman, child actor, cog railway, confluent, confluent stream, connoisseur of food, consumer, cue, dendritic drainage pattern, diner, diner-out, diseur, diseuse, dramatizer, eater, eater-out, effluent, el, electric railway, elevated, elevated railway, embankment, epicure, fat part, feeder line, flesh-eater, foil, fork, fruitarian, gastronome, glutton, gourmand, gourmet, grain-eater, graminivore, granivore, gravity-operated railway, heavy, herbivore, hero, heroine, high liver, histrio, histrion, horse railway, hungry mouth, ingenue, junction, juvenile, lactovegetarian, lead, lead role, leading lady, leading man, leading woman, light railroad, line, lines, luncher, main line, man-eater, matinee idol, meat-eater, metro, mime, mimer, mimic, monologist, monorail, mouth, mummer, omnivore, omophagist, pantomime, pantomimist, pantophagist, part, person, personage, phytophage, picnicker, piece, plant-eater, playactor, player, predacean, prong, protagonist, protean actor, rack railway, rack-and-pinion railway, rail, rail line, railroad, railway, reciter, roadbed, roadway, role, side, sidetrack, siding, soubrette, stage performer, stage player, stooge, straight man, straight part, street railway, streetcar line, stroller, strolling player, subway, supporting character, supporting role, switchback, terminal, terminus, theatrical, thespian, title role, track, tram, tramline, trencherman, trestle, tributary, trolley line, trouper, trunk, trunk line, tube, turnout, underground, utility man, vegetarian, villain, walk-on, walking part

ROGET THESAURUS

feeder

Provision

N provision, supply, grist, grist for the mill, subvention, resources, groceries, grocery, providing, purveyance, reinforcement, reenforcement, commissariat, provender, ensilage, viaticum, caterer, purveyor, commissary, quartermaster, manciple, feeder, batman, victualer, grocer, comprador, restaurateur, jackal, pelican, sutler, grocery shop, grocery store.