eat up

British  

verb

1. (also intr) to eat or consume entirely: often used as an exhortation to children

2. informal to listen to with enthusiasm or appreciation

   the audience ate up the speaker's every word

3. informal (often passive) to affect grossly

   she was eaten up by jealousy

4. informal to travel (a distance) quickly

   we just ate up the miles

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eat up Idioms  

1. Consume completely, as in No television until you eat up your dinner , or This quarter's expenses have eaten up all my spare cash . The literal use (first example) dates from the early 1500s, the figurative from the early 1600s.

2. Enjoy avidly, as in She simply eats up the publicity . [Late 1800s]

3. Believe unquestioningly, be gullible, as in He'll eat up whatever the broker tells him . [ Slang ; early 1900s]

4. Defeat completely, as in This new fighter just eats up every opponent . [ Slang ; c. 1830]

5. See eat out , def. 2.

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Example Sentences

A swap line to the U.A.E. alone could eat up most of the fund.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026

Deadline's Pete Hammond said the film "falls short of giving any new insights", but said Jaafar Jackson "dazzles" in a film that fans would "eat up".

From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026

The littlest Mac has gone viral as a cost-effective way for AI power users to run local large language models that can eat up dozens of gigabytes of RAM, aka memory.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

That will eat up a lot of operating cash flow.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

Rabbits were suddenly dying from a rabbit disease that seemed to eat up their insides.

From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich