hand-feed
Americanverb (used with object)
-
Agriculture. to feed (animals) with apportioned amounts at regular intervals.
-
to feed (an animal or person) by hand.
The students hand-fed the baby monkeys with an eyedropper.
Etymology
Origin of hand-feed
First recorded in 1795–1805
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"I write fairly dark stuff, so it's actually lovely to go out in the morning and hand-feed the pygmy goats or the rabbits little bits of carrot and lettuce," James added.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Two middle-aged men — a stablehand and a horse trainer who had reportedly tried to hand-feed the dying mare — developed flulike symptoms, too.
From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2022
They’ll also provide healthy treats to hand-feed the four-legged hikers who will be available for petting and unlimited photo opportunities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2022
But never hand-feed an animal; you don’t want to get bitten or scratched.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 6, 2022
But when Beatrice refused to eat, I had to hand-feed her a few lumps of liver-flavored kibble.
From "Ungifted" by Gordon Korman
And their use of gloves suggests they also know birds: Although hand-fed parrots are more docile than their wild counterparts, sticking one’s hand in an unsuspecting bird’s cage can result in a painful bite.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2023
He and his wife hand-fed the animal until it was able to eat on its own.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 18, 2023
Each chick is weighed every morning and hand-fed three times a day with a "penguin milkshake" - blended fish, vitamins and minerals.
From BBC ● May 18, 2022
A baby cheetah cub is being hand-fed by caretakers for several weeks at the National Zoo’s sister facility in Virginia after its siblings were stillborn and its mother abandoned it.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2021
Ruva had just graduated from being hand-fed herself.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
While humans are unlikely to contract H5N1, close physical contact with birds through hand-feeding is simply not worth the risk.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
I stop worrying about the declining health of my mother and other pressing issues when faced with the task of hand-feeding a young elephant seal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2024
But if they bless you with something egregious, go for it: “I find it challenging when you’re in her lap and hand-feeding her like she’s an orphaned bird.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 6, 2023
Jackson started experimenting with making shapes with sheep to relieve the monotonous stress of hand-feeding livestock during a devastating drought across most of Australia that broke in the early months of the pandemic.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 26, 2021
With careful hand-feeding that in the beginning went around the clock, I was able to parrot-parent.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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.
