feeder
Americannoun
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a person or thing that supplies food or feeds something.
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a bin or boxlike device from which farm animals may eat, especially such a device designed to allow a number of chickens to feed simultaneously or to release a specific amount of feed at regular intervals.
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a person or thing that takes food or nourishment.
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a livestock animal that is fed an enriched diet to fatten it for market.
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a person or device that feeds a machine, printing press, etc.
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a tributary stream.
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Electricity. Also a conductor, or group of conductors, connecting primary equipment in an electric power system.
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British. a baby's bib.
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Theater Slang. straight man.
adjective
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being, functioning as, or serving as a feeder.
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pertaining to livestock to be fattened for market.
noun
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a person or thing that feeds or is fed
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a child's feeding bottle or bib
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agriculture a head of livestock being fattened for slaughter
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a person or device that feeds the working material into a system or machine
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a tributary channel, esp one that supplies a reservoir or canal with water
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a road, service, etc, that links secondary areas to the main traffic network
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( as modifier )
a feeder bus
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a transmission line connecting an aerial to a transmitter or receiver
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a power line for transmitting electrical power from a generating station to a distribution network
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Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of feeder
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at feed, -er 1
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.
Feeder cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange rose Thursday as the market feared an eventual decline in available supply.
From Barron's • Jun. 4, 2026
FeatherSnap Seed Feeder -My wife recently became enchanted with birdwatching, mostly while hiking, but even our simple backyard feeder has her captivated.
From Salon • Nov. 20, 2025
Bristol currently faces high demand for secondary places, and a brand new school for the Oasis charitable trust is being built alongside the Feeder Canal at Temple Quarter.
From BBC • Mar. 11, 2025
The emergency repair will shut down the 36-mile Upper Feeder pipeline — which delivers water from the Colorado River to Southern California — from Sept. 6-20, the MWD said.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 15, 2022
Punctually at the appointed time the gong was sounded, and the studies, under the joint auspices of Doctor Blimber and Mr. Feeder, were resumed.
From Dickens As an Educator by Hughes, James L. (James Laughlin)
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.
