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 byup ).
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.
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.
eat away / into to destroy gradually, as by erosion.
For eons, the pounding waves ate away at the shoreline.
eat up
to consume wholly.
to show enthusiasm for; take pleasure in.
The audience ate up everything he said.
to believe without question.
eat out to have a meal at a restaurant rather than at home.
be eating someone, to worry, annoy, or bother.
Something seems to be eating him—he's been wearing a frown all day.
eat one's words. word.
eat one's heart out. heart.
eat someone's lunch, to thoroughly defeat, outdo, injure, etc.
eat in, to eat or dine at home.
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 one's terms. term.
eat crow. crow.
eat the wind out of, to blanket (a sailing vessel sailing close-hauled) by sailing close on the weather side of.
eat humble pie. humble pie.
eat out of one's hand. hand.
eat clean. clean.
eat high off the hog. hog.
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 eating
the damp had eaten away the woodwork
(often foll by into) to use up or waste
taxes ate into his inheritance
to make (a hole, passage, etc) by eating or gnawing
rats 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 diet
he doesn't eat fish
informal (tr) to cause to worry; make anxious
what's eating you?
slang (tr) to perform cunnilingus or fellatio upon
informal I will be greatly surprised if (something happens that proves me wrong)
to brood or pine with grief or longing
to take back something said; recant; retract
to be entirely obedient to someone
to ruin someone, esp one's parent or one's host, by consuming all his food
First recorded before 900; Middle English eten, Old English etan; cognate with German essen, Gothic itan, Latin edere, esse, Homeric Greek édein
If you leave an antique flowerpot outside all winter, the snow and rain might eat the paint, making it look even older than it is. You probably know that eat means "to consume food," because you do that several times a day. But we also use the verb eat for other situations involving using something up or wearing it down. If your art project eats up all your art supplies, that means you don't have any left. Leaving your car lights on will eat through your battery. Something eating away at us is worrying us. Don't let money stress eat away at your happiness.
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Behind him some eat or line up for coffee, while others try to rest on air mattresses or sleeping mats.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
"Definitely not going out to eat at all," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
A line snakes all the way around the casino floor on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, when veterans and their spouses eat free.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
This week Quentin Fottrell — The Moneyist — answered questions from a credit-card borrower who would like to have her cake and eat it too.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
“We need to eat well and stay strong.”
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Brinker EAT -0.07%decrease; red down pointing triangle International posted higher second-quarter profit and revenue and raised its fiscal-year outlook as the perceived affordability of Chili’s continues to draw repeat customers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026
Since the beginning of pandemic, Pret has closed 39 shops in the UK, as well as 33 EAT outlets, which it also owns.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2021
This is a lovely review, that describes food in a lovely, painterly way - but having read it twice, does any of this sound like food you'd want to, well, y'know, EAT?
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2016
EAT: If you’re in the shrinking middle class, your earnings after taxes might leave you barely able to do this.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 21, 2015
She knew that just because you see a piece of cake and a sign that says EAT ME doesn’t mean you should actually do it.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
"I can't do this for life because it eats away at my body," says Kim, a Coupang driver on a sub-contract, who did not want to share his real name.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
"We know that there's much more lithium in planetary material than there is in stars. So if a star eats a planet, it's going to take on a bunch of lithium."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
The cheese clings to the warm crackers, the pepper blooms in the fat and the whole thing eats like the bar snack version of cacio e pepe.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
Xue, who also owns a cozy Michelin-recognized restaurant named wonderful, serving Hunan-style Chinese eats in Millbrae, does not shy away from the spotlight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
There’s a dribble of sauce smeared down Connor’s chin, because he’s getting too excited and keeps missing his mouth as he eats.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
Nearly 2,000 people who ate food from Taco Bell have been sickened in those nine states during the outbreak, the agency said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
“And if you’re like me, I don’t even remember what I ate two days ago,” Stevens quipped.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The outbreak is heavily concentrated in five states, affecting people who ate at a Taco Bell restaurant.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
Let’s go talk to those people and find out exactly what they ate.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
I ate another meat pie and a slice of bread, and because Martha had told me to eat, I put the loaf of bread in my satchel and another pie.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
From Nigella Lawson’s riff on a Caesar salad to creamy lettuce soup, here are a few ways to cook and enjoy a produce item that’s typically eaten cold and raw.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
They have been documented engaging in "wave washing" -- cooperating to create choppy waters that knock seals off sheets of ice so they can be more easily captured and eaten.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Ants are eaten, sometimes even valued as a delicacy, in several Asian, African and Latin American cultures.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
At the beginning of the study, participants completed detailed food questionnaires describing what they had eaten and drunk during the previous year.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
He’d already eaten five eggs and a half dozen strips of bacon, and he was still working on a stack of pancakes tall enough to sit on.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
When the fire alerts sounded on telephones, "I thought everything was going to burn, the house and everything," she said at the sports hall, where they sat dozing and eating snacks.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
In mice, the medications reduced hedonic feeding, which means eating for enjoyment rather than because the body needs energy.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
During a Thursday appearance on the popular talk show — where guests answer questions while eating chicken wings with increasingly spicy sauces — the actor struggled to keep his composure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Michelle is still eating fruits and vegetables, but only ones she cooks.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
It tasted wonderful and I could not stop eating it.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
