eat

[ eet ]

/ it /

verb (used with object), ate [eyt; especially British et] /eɪt; especially British ɛt/ or (Archaic) eat [et, eet] /ɛt, it/; eat·en or (Archaic) eat [et, eet] /ɛt, it/; eat·ing.

to take into the mouth and swallow for nourishment; chew and swallow (food).

to consume by or as if by devouring gradually; wear away; corrode: The patient was eaten by disease and pain.

to make (a hole, passage, etc.), as by gnawing or corrosion.

to ravage or devastate: a forest eaten by fire.

to use up, especially wastefully; consume (often followed by up): Unexpected expenses have been eating up their savings.

to absorb or pay for: The builder had to eat the cost of the repairs.

Slang: Vulgar. to perform cunnilingus or fellatio on.

verb (used without object), ate [eyt; especially British et] /eɪt; especially British ɛt/ or (Archaic) eat [et, eet] /ɛt, it/; eat·en or (Archaic) eat [et, eet] /ɛt, it/; eat·ing.

to consume food; take a meal: We'll eat at six o'clock.

to make a way, as by gnawing or corrosion: Acid ate through the linoleum.

noun

eats, Informal. food.

Verb Phrases

eat away/into, to destroy gradually, as by erosion: For eons, the pounding waves ate away at the shoreline.

eat out, to have a meal at a restaurant rather than at home.

eat up,

to consume wholly.
to show enthusiasm for; take pleasure in: The audience ate up everything he said.
to believe without question.

Nearby words

Idioms

be eating (someone), Informal. to worry, annoy, or bother: Something seems to be eating him—he's been wearing a frown all day.

eat crow. crow¹(def 7).

eat high off the hog. hog(def 16).

eat humble pie. humble pie(def 3).

eat in, to eat or dine at home.

eat one's heart out. heart(def 26).

eat one's terms. term(def 17).

eat one's words. word(def 16).

eat out of one's hand. hand(def 49).

eat (someone) out of house and home, to eat so much as to strain someone's resources of food or money: A group of hungry teenagers can eat you out of house and home.

eat (someone's) lunch, Slang. to thoroughly defeat, outdo, injure, etc.

eat the wind out of, Nautical. to blanket (a sailing vessel sailing close-hauled) by sailing close on the weather side of.

Origin of eat

before 900; Middle English eten, Old English etan; cognate with German essen, Gothic itan, Latin edere

Related formseat·er, nounout·eat, verb (used with object), out·ate, out·eat·en, out·eat·ing.un·der·eat, verb (used without object), un·der·ate, un·der·eat·en, un·der·eat·ing.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for eat in

EAT

EAZ

abbreviation for

Tanzania (international car registration)

Word Origin for EAT

from E(ast) A(frica) T(anganyika) or E(ast) A(frica) Z(anzibar)

eat

/ (iːt) /

verb eats, eating, ate or eaten

to take into the mouth and swallow (food, etc), esp after biting and chewing

(tr; often foll by away or up) to destroy as if by eatingthe damp had eaten away the woodwork

(often foll by into) to use up or wastetaxes ate into his inheritance

(often foll by into or through) to make (a hole, passage, etc) by eating or gnawingrats ate through the floor

to take or have (a meal or meals)we always eat at six

(tr) to include as part of one's diethe doesn't eat fish

(tr) informal to cause to worry; make anxiouswhat's eating you?

(tr) slang to perform cunnilingus or fellatio upon

I'll eat my hat if informal I will be greatly surprised if (something happens that proves me wrong)

eat one's heart out to brood or pine with grief or longing

eat one's words to take back something said; recant; retract

eat out of someone's hand to be entirely obedient to someone

eat someone out of house and home to ruin someone, esp one's parent or one's host, by consuming all his food

Word Origin for eat

Old English etan; related to Gothic itan, Old High German ezzan, Latin edere, Greek edein, Sanskrit admi

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for eat in

eat

Old English etan (class V strong verb; past tense æt, past participle eten) "to eat, devour, consume," from Proto-Germanic *etanan (cf. Old Frisian ita, Old Saxon etan, Middle Dutch eten, Dutch eten, Old High German ezzan, German essen, Old Norse eta, Gothic itan), from PIE root *ed- "to eat" (see edible).

Transferred sense of "slow, gradual corrosion or destruction" is from 1550s. Meaning "to preoccupy, engross" (as in what's eating you?) first recorded 1893. Slang sexual sense of "do cunnilingus on" is first recorded 1927. Eat out "dine away from home" is from 1933. The slang phrase to eat one's words is from 1570s; to eat one's heart out is from 1590s; for eat one's hat, see hat.

Medicine definitions for eat in

eat

[ ēt ]

v.

To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption.

To consume, ravage, or destroy by or as if by ingesting, such as by a disease.

Idioms and Phrases with eat in

eat in

Have a meal at home, as in Are we eating in tonight? [Colloquial; second half of 1900s] Also see eat out, def. 1.

eat

In addition to the idioms beginning with eat

eat and run
eat away at
eat crow
eat high off the hog
eat in
eat like a bird
eat one's cake and have it, too
eat one's hat
eat one's heart out
eat one's words
eat out
eat out of someone's hand
eat shit
eat someone alive
eat someone out
eat someone out of house and home
eat someone's ass out
eat someone's lunch
eat someone up
eat up

also see:

dog eat dog
proof of the pudding is in the eating
what's eating you

eat