eat

/iːt/

verb 19
noun 1
forms 12
phrases 20

verb19

•
to bite food or take it in through the mouth, and let it go down the throat
- He's eating an apple.
- Don't disturb me now. Can't you see that I'm eating?
To ingest.
•
To consume a meal.
- What time do we eat this evening?
•
To have a particular quality of diet; to be well-fed or underfed.
- I try to eat healthy these days.
To use up.
•
To corrode or erode.
- The acid rain ate away the statue.
- The strong acid eats through the metal.
•
(figurative) To destroy, consume, or use up.
- This project is eating up all the money.
- That hobby eats his savings.
•
(informal, figurative) To consume (an exception, an event, etc.) so that other parts of the program do not receive it.
- A bigger problem, however, is that if you catch/eat an exception and do nothing with it, you are very likely introducing subtle bugs in your application that will be next to impossible to track down. — 2005
•
(informal, figurative) To damage, destroy, or fail to eject a removable part or an inserted object.
- The VHS recorder just ate the tape and won't spit it out.
- John is late for the meeting because the photocopier ate his report.
•
(informal, figurative) To consume money (or other instruments of value, such as a token) deposited or inserted by a user, while failing to either provide the intended product or service or return the payment.
- The video game in the corner just ate my quarter.
•
(informal) To cause (someone) to worry.
- What's eating you?
•
To take the loss in a transaction.
- I have to have him in court tomorrow, if he doesn't show up, I forfeit the bond and I have to eat the $300,000. — 1988
•
(slang) To perform oral sex (on a person or body part).
- Eat me!
- I ate his ass.
•
To act well (in a role); to be intensely devoted (to a role).
- Most of the movie was pretty weak, but she ate her role, and I couldn't take my eyes off her.
•
(slang) To do or perform well and stunningly; to consume a challenge successfully and stylishly; to rule, to slay.
- You ate that performance!
- This song eats!
•
To be ingested.
- It's a soup that eats like a meal.
•
To be savored or enjoyed; to taste in a specified way.
- It's an unattractive dish, but it eats pretty good.
•
(slang) To be injured or killed by (something such as a firearm or its projectile), especially in the mouth.
- I risk my whole future, the hatred of the cops and Eddie Mars' gang. I dodge bullets and eat saps. — 1944
(slang) To annex.

noun1

•
(informal) Something to be eaten; a meal; a food item.
- Eating a Picnic creates a flurry of wafer pieces, flying peanuts and chocolate crumbs. […] As well as being messy, Picnic happens to be a big eat – something of a consumption challenge in fact. — 2011

forms

ated · eated · ate · et · atest · aten · eaten · etten · eating · eateth · eats · eatest

Phrases with eat