feed
Americanverb (used with object)
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feeds,
present (3rd person singular)
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fed,
past participle, past
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feeding
present participle
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to give food to; supply with nourishment.
to feed a child.
- Antonyms:
- starve
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to yield or serve as food for.
This land has fed 10 generations.
- Antonyms:
- starve
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to provide as food.
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to furnish for consumption.
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to satisfy; minister to; gratify.
Poetry feeds the imagination.
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to supply for maintenance or operation, as to a machine.
to feed paper into a photocopier.
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to provide with the necessary materials for development, maintenance, or operation.
to feed a printing press with paper.
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to use (land) as pasture.
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Theater Informal.
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to supply (an actor, especially a comedian) with lines or action, the responses to which are expected to elicit laughter.
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to provide cues to (an actor).
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Chiefly British. to prompt.
Stand in the wings and feed them their lines.
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Radio and Television. to distribute (a local broadcast) via satellite or network.
verb (used without object)
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feeds,
present (3rd person singular)
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fed,
past participle, past
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feeding
present participle
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(especially of animals) to take food; eat.
cows feeding in a meadow; to feed well.
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to be nourished or gratified; subsist.
to feed on grass; to feed on thoughts of revenge.
noun
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feeds
plural
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food, especially for farm animals, as cattle, horses or chickens.
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an allowance, portion, or supply of such food.
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Informal. a meal, especially a lavish one.
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the act of feeding.
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the act or process of feeding a furnace, machine, etc.
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the material, or the amount of it, so fed or supplied.
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a feeding mechanism.
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Electricity. feeder.
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Theater Informal.
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a line spoken by one actor, the response to which by another actor is expected to cause laughter.
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an actor, especially a straight man, who provides such lines.
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a local television broadcast distributed by satellite or network to a much wider audience, especially nationwide or international.
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Digital Technology.
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a website or application that publishes updates from social media or news-collection websites in reverse chronological order.
I follow all of the latest celebrity gossip in my Twitter feed.
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an XML-based web document that is updated automatically at predetermined intervals and includes descriptive titles or short descriptions and links to recent pages on a website.
Subscribe to news feeds to get the latest news from around the world.
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idioms
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chain feed, to pass (work) successively into a machine in such a manner that each new piece is held in place by or connected to the one before.
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off one's feed,
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reluctant to eat; without appetite.
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dejected; sad.
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not well; ill.
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verb
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to give food to
to feed the cat
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to give as food
to feed meat to the cat
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(intr) to eat food
the horses feed at noon
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to provide food for
these supplies can feed 10 million people
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to provide what is necessary for the existence or development of
to feed one's imagination
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to gratify; satisfy
to feed one's eyes on a beautiful sight
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(also intr) to supply (a machine, furnace, etc) with (the necessary materials or fuel) for its operation, or (of such materials) to flow or move forwards into a machine, etc
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to use (land) as grazing
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informal theatre to cue (an actor, esp a comedian) with lines or actions
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sport to pass a ball to (a team-mate)
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electronics to introduce (electrical energy) into a circuit, esp by means of a feeder
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(also intr; foll by on or upon) to eat or cause to eat
noun
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the act or an instance of feeding
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food, esp that of animals or babies
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the process of supplying a machine or furnace with a material or fuel
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the quantity of material or fuel so supplied
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computing a facility allowing web users to receive news headlines and updates on their browser from a website as soon as they are published
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the rate of advance of a cutting tool in a lathe, drill, etc
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a mechanism that supplies material or fuel or controls the rate of advance of a cutting tool
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informal theatre a performer, esp a straight man, who provides cues
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informal a meal
Synonym Usage
Feed, fodder, forage, provender mean food for animals. Feed is the general word: pig feed; chicken feed. Fodder is especially applied to dry or green feed, as opposed to pasturage, fed to horses, cattle, etc.: fodder for winter feeding; Cornstalks are good fodder. Forage is food that an animal obtains (usually grass, leaves, etc.) by searching about for it: Lost cattle can usually live on forage. Provender denotes dry feed, such as hay, oats, or corn: a supply of provender in the haymow and corn cribs.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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feedsimple
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feedssimple
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have fedperfect
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has fedperfect
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am feedingprogressive
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are feedingprogressive
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is feedingprogressive
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have been feedingperfect progressive
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has been feedingperfect progressive
Past
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fedsimple
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had fedperfect
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was feedingprogressive
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were feedingprogressive
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had been feedingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of feed
First recorded before 950; Middle English feden, Old English fēdan; cognate with Gothic fōdjan, Old Saxon fōdian. See food
Explanation
To feed someone is to give them something to eat. Part of your daily morning routine might be remembering to feed your cat. When you feed a dog, you put food in his bowl, and when you feed your extended family, you might cook them a Thanksgiving feast. Animals are sometimes said "to feed," or to consume or eat, and you can also use the word to mean "food for an animal," or "to supply or promote." The Old English root is fedan, "nourish, sustain, or foster."
Vocabulary lists containing feed
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:
The birds feed on insects living on rhinos and can also act as sentinels - calling to warn their hosts when danger approaches.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
He also found a way to access a Flock security camera via the internet—and he broadcast its feed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
I tend to start with the protein and work outward: If two chicken breasts comfortably feed your two-person household, chop and freeze two with the scallions and ginger.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
Although many Australians feed wild birds, the practice is controversial.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Nor was there time to feed the children a proper dinner, and the kitchen was all out of biscuits.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
This proximity likely feeds greater skepticism, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
He told the conference: "We discovered what we think is a black hole merging with a massive companion star, shredding it into a disk that feeds the black hole. It's a rare and awe-inspiring phenomenon."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
I have seen genuinely funny and ingenious A.I.-produced shorts on my feeds, many of them likely helmed with a fraction of the compute and app deployment needed at Fairground.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2026
Zuckerberg's manifesto is the latest to land in our social media feeds in an effort to put a positive spin on AI.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
I gaze down at a small white beach that feeds into a huge green ocean covered with islands.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
The federal government directive and the resulting legal action come after Lake Powell and Lake Mead, America's two largest reservoirs, and which are fed by the Colorado River, fell to record low levels.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
“The workers were not fed properly, the shelter that they gave them was not appropriate, and many times workers were injured,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Worse, the “don’t touch it” mentality allowed forest overgrowth, bug infestations and fuel buildup that have fed cataclysmic fires—with all the attendant consequences for habitat, resources and scenery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Nurse bees eat this material and process its nutrients into glandular secretions, including royal jelly, which are then fed to developing larvae.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026
“Make sure you stay fed and stay safe. I want you back at the train station on time, not a minute late. Do you understand?”
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
"To see so many choughs successfully breeding and feeding across the Lizard is incredibly encouraging and highlights the importance of continuing to care for this special landscape for future generations."
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
But if you do continue feeding wild birds, here are three precautions to take:
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Feeding wild birds heightens the risk of disease transmission at feeding locations.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
Backyard bird feeding could worsen Australia’s current H5N1 crisis.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
“Maybe the human will stop feeding me,” I whuffle softly.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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.
