diets

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of diet.

   Several diets promise quick weight loss but rarely deliver lasting change.

   The clinic compares low-carb and Mediterranean diets for each patient.

   Note

   A plural that covers more ground than it first seems to. Most often it counts eating regimens, such as low-carb or Mediterranean diets, because the regimen meaning is the one readily counted. It can also count formal assemblies, usually capitalized. In Scotland it can mean sessions of exams, and in court it can name criminal proceedings, so the surrounding words decide which diets are meant.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of diet.

   My brother diets before every wrestling season to make his weight class.

   She diets strictly for two weeks and then allows herself a treat.

   Note

   Here the verb usually stands alone, as in "she diets" with no object, because the everyday meaning of managing one's own eating is intransitive. A transitive use, as in "he diets his patients," means putting someone else on a regimen and now sounds dated. The older meanings "to eat" and "to feed" are obsolete. The spelling is shared with the plural noun, so "she diets" and "two diets" are told apart only by their grammar.

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