eat
verb (used with object)
to take into the mouth and swallow for nourishment; chew and swallow (food).
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eat
American
[eet]
/ it /
verb (used with object)
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eats,
present (3rd person singular)
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ate,
past
-
eat,
past (Archaic)
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eaten,
past participle
-
eating
present participle
-
to take into the mouth and swallow for nourishment; chew and swallow (food).
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to consume by or as if by devouring gradually; wear away; corrode.
The patient was eaten by disease and pain.
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to make (a hole, passage, etc.), as by gnawing or corrosion.
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to ravage or devastate.
a forest eaten by fire.
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to use up, especially wastefully; consume (often followed byup ).
Unexpected expenses have been eating up their savings.
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to absorb or pay for.
The builder had to eat the cost of the repairs.
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Slang: Vulgar. to perform cunnilingus or fellatio on.
verb (used without object)
-
eats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ate,
past
-
eat,
past (Archaic)
-
eaten,
past participle
-
eating
present participle
-
to consume food; take a meal.
We'll eat at six o'clock.
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to make a way, as by gnawing or corrosion.
Acid ate through the linoleum.
noun
verb phrase
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eat away / into to destroy gradually, as by erosion.
For eons, the pounding waves ate away at the shoreline.
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eat up
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to consume wholly.
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to show enthusiasm for; take pleasure in.
The audience ate up everything he said.
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to believe without question.
-
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eat out to have a meal at a restaurant rather than at home.
idioms
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be eating someone, to worry, annoy, or bother.
Something seems to be eating him—he's been wearing a frown all day.
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eat one's words. word.
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eat one's heart out. heart.
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eat someone's lunch, to thoroughly defeat, outdo, injure, etc.
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eat in, to eat or dine at home.
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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.
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eat one's terms. term.
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eat crow. crow.
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eat the wind out of, to blanket (a sailing vessel sailing close-hauled) by sailing close on the weather side of.
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eat humble pie. humble pie.
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eat out of one's hand. hand.
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eat clean. clean.
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eat high off the hog. hog.
eat
1
British
/ iːt /
verb
-
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
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(often foll by into) to use up or waste
taxes ate into his inheritance
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to make (a hole, passage, etc) by eating or gnawing
rats ate through the floor
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to take or have (a meal or meals)
we always eat at six
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(tr) to include as part of one's diet
he doesn't eat fish
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informal (tr) to cause to worry; make anxious
what's eating you?
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slang (tr) to perform cunnilingus or fellatio upon
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informal I will be greatly surprised if (something happens that proves me wrong)
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to brood or pine with grief or longing
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to take back something said; recant; retract
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to be entirely obedient to someone
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to ruin someone, esp one's parent or one's host, by consuming all his food
EAT
2
British
abbreviation
eat
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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eatsimple
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eatssimple
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have eatenperfect
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has eatenperfect
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am eatingprogressive
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are eatingprogressive
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is eatingprogressive
-
have been eatingperfect progressive
-
has been eatingperfect progressive
Past
-
atesimple
-
eatsimple
-
had eatenperfect
-
was eatingprogressive
-
were eatingprogressive
-
had been eatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of eat
First recorded before 900; Middle English eten, Old English etan; cognate with German essen, Gothic itan, Latin edere, esse, Homeric Greek édein
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing eat
3-letter words, List 1
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3-letter words, List 2
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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:
It may instead depend on persuading consumers that the food they eat, the medicine they take and the cosmetics they use were made according to rules they believe in.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
We would loiter, mostly, and eat the shredded beef nachos that I still think about to this day while the plastic of our high-top Converse grilled on the scalding asphalt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
These humble vessels of the God molecule live underground for up to nine months a year, during which time they neither eat nor move.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Kirkcaldy said in some cases it can be "a trade-off that nobody should have to make between your health and whether you eat."
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
He could eat you out of house and home, and he was too big to argue with.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Brinker International EAT -2.71%decrease; down pointing triangle logged higher profit and revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter, fueled by continued momentum across its Chili’s brand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
This fall, EAT will once again present their biannual new works series, to include dozens of new plays, musicals, dance pieces and cabaret performances.
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2022
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
To Brown’s chagrin, the EAT crowd seemed more receptive to this dream of Eden than to his unrepentant bovicide.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 23, 2019
The café is in a little white building with a sign in front that says EAT.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
“There’s no way a fish eats that. It looks like absolutely nothing.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Nvidia’s earnings call later this month could give Wall Street and investors “critically needed assurance on its go-forward role in vendor financing,” Arya said, which eats into its free cash flow.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Wyle: I don’t know that Dr. Robby eats a lot of vegetables.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
"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
But when a killer whale catches and eats a baby seal, I immediately change it back to the Korean variety show.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
He ate a piece of bread and a slice of cheese, opening and shutting his refrigerator door quickly to preserve the cold air.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
I’d run my fingers across the convex pyramid textures in the same way other people lay under a weighted blanket or ate sour candy, jolting my subconscious back into the here and now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
They ate their meals together and walked laps around the yard talking about life.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
A third group ate an unrestricted diet that also included three daily servings of dairy.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
She was old and tough but we ate every shred of meat and sucked on the bones until they fell apart in our mouths.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
But that’s so you can have $100,000 sitting around being eaten alive by inflation?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
The percentage of consumers eating alone has been steadily growing in the U.S., with 43% of restaurant meals eaten solo in the 12 months ended in June, according to market-research firm Circana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
In late January, the couple’s clutch of two eggs was eaten by ravens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Participants also completed four dietary recalls during the study describing what they had eaten during the previous 24 hours.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
It might have been the best meal he’d ever eaten.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
Artificial intelligence is eating into some of the menial tasks traditionally performed by interns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
It’s moments in between where we’re eating and dining with people from the food world and beyond.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
The family noticed wildfire smoke from the distance while eating dinner on Friday evening.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Most cases used to stem from eating undercooked poultry or eggs, but studies have shown that salmonella outbreaks linked to fresh produce have increased in recent years.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Grandpa chuckled and said, “Oh, I don’t think so—I’ve never heard of a boy having the bellyache from eating candy. I don’t think that’s possible.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
