Eat

• POS: Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Eat, v. t. [OE. eten, AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D. eten, OHG. ezzan, G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. äta, Dan. æde, Goth. itan, Ir. & Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere, Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad. Etch, Fret to rub, Edible.].

•  To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread.  Dan. iv. 25.  [1913 Webster]

  "They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead."  [1913 Webster]

  "The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine."  [1913 Webster]

  "The lion had not eaten the carcass."  [1913 Webster]

  "With stories told of many a feat,
  How fairy Mab the junkets eat."  [1913 Webster]

  "The island princes overbold
  Have eat our substance."  [1913 Webster]

  "His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

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. 

•  To take food; to feed; especially, to take solid, in distinction from liquid, food; to board.  [1913 Webster]

  "He did eat continually at the king's table."  [1913 Webster]
•  To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef.  [1913 Webster]
•  To make one's way slowly.  [1913 Webster]

To eat, To eat in or To eat 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.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Eat, v. (past ate; past part. eaten)
1 a tr. take into the mouth, chew, and swallow (food). b intr. consume food; take a meal. c tr. devour (eaten by a lion).
2 intr. (foll. by (away) at, into) a destroy gradually, esp. by corrosion, erosion, disease, etc. b begin to consume or diminish (resources etc.).
3 tr. colloq. trouble, vex (what's eating you?).

Idiom

eat dirt see DIRT. eat one's hat colloq. admit one's surprise in being wrong (only as a proposition unlikely to be fulfilled : said he would eat his hat). eat one's heart out suffer from excessive longing or envy. eat humble pie see HUMBLE. eat out have a meal away from home, esp. in a restaurant. eat out of a person's hand be entirely submissive to a person. eat salt with see SALT. eat up
1 (also absol.) eat or consume completely.
2 use or deal with rapidly or wastefully (eats up petrol; eats up the miles).
3 encroach upon or annex (eating up the neighbouring States).
4 absorb, preoccupy (eaten up with pride). eat one's words admit that one was wrong.

Etymology

OE etan f. Gmc

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Eat

v.i. To perform successively (and successfully) the functions of mastication, humectation, and deglutition.
"I was in the drawing-room, enjoying my dinner," said Brillat- Savarin, beginning an anecdote. "What!" interrupted Rochebriant; "eating dinner in a drawing-room?" "I must beg you to observe, monsieur," explained the great gastronome, "that I did not say I was eating my dinner, but enjoying it. I had dined an hour before."

THESAURUS

Eat

ablate, absorb, assimilate, bite, bleed white, break bread, burn up, canker, consume, corrode, count calories, deplete, devour, diet, digest, disregard, dissolve, down, drain, drain of resources, drink, eat away, eat into, eat out, eat up, engorge, engulf, erode, etch, exhaust, expend, fall to, fare, feed, feed on, finish, finish off, gnaw, gobble, gobble up, gulp, gulp down, hunger, ignore, imbibe, impoverish, ingest, ingurgitate, meal, nibble away, oxidize, partake, partake of, pitch in, pocket, pocket the affront, relish, rust, savor, spend, squander, stomach, suck dry, swallow, swallow an insult, swallow up, swill, swill down, take, taste, turn aside provocation, use up, waste away, wear away, wolf down

ROGET THESAURUS

Eat

Sufficiency

VB be sufficient, suffice, do, just do, satisfy, pass muster, have enough, eat, one's fill, drink one's fill, have one's fill, roll in, swim in, wallow in, wanton, abound, exuberate, teem, flow, stream, rain, shower down, pour, pour in, swarm, bristle with, superabound, render sufficient, replenish, Adj, sufficient, enough, adequate, up to the mark, commensurate, competent, satisfactory, valid, tangible, measured, moderate, full, ample, plenty, plentiful, plenteous, plenty as blackberries, copious, abundant, abounding, replete, enough and to spare, flush, choke-full, chock-full, well-stocked, well- provided, liberal, unstinted, unstinting, stintless, without stint, unsparing, unmeasured, lavish, wholesale, rich, luxuriant, affluent, wantless, big with, unexhausted, unwasted, exhaustless, inexhaustible, Adv, sufficiently, amply.

Inexcitability

VB be composed, laisser faire, laisser aller, take things easily, take things as they come, take it easy, rub on, live and let live, take easily, take cooly, take in good part, aequam servare mentem, bear the brunt, bear well, go through, support, endure, brave, disregard, tolerate, suffer, stand, bide, abide, aby, bear with, put up with, take up with, abide with, acquiesce, submit, submit with a good grace, resign oneself to, reconcile oneself to, brook, digest, eat, swallow, pocket, stomach, make light of, make the best of, make 'a virtue of necessity', put a good face on, keep one's countenance, check, check oneself, compose, appease (moderate), propitiate, repress, render insensible, overcome one's excitability, allay one's excitability, repress one's excitability, master one's feelings, make oneself easy, make one's mind easy, set one's mind at ease, set one's mind at rest, calm down, cool down, gentle, thaw, grow cool, be borne, be endured, go down.

Reception

VB give entrance to, give admittance to, give the entree, introduce, intromit, usher, admit, receive, import, bring in, open the door to, throw in, ingest, absorb, imbibe, inhale, breathe in, let in, take in, suck in, draw in, readmit, resorb, reabsorb, snuff up, swallow, ingurgitate, engulf, engorge, gulp, eat, drink.

Food

VB eat, feed, fare, devour, swallow, take, gulp, bolt, snap, fall to, despatch, dispatch, discuss, take down, get down, gulp down, lay in, tuck in, lick, pick, peck, gormandize, bite, champ, munch, cranch, craunch, crunch, chew, masticate, nibble, gnaw, mumble, live on, feed upon, batten upon, fatten upon, feast upon, browse, graze, crop, regale, carouse, eat heartily, do justice to, play a good knife and fork, banquet, break bread, break one's fast, breakfast, lunch, dine, take tea, sup, drink in, drink up, drink one's fill, quaff, sip, sup, suck, suck up, lap, swig, swill, chugalug, tipple, empty one's glass, drain the cup, toss off, toss one's glass, wash down, crack a bottle, wet one's whistle, purvey.