eat

SayEET/it//iːt/

Verbeats, eating, ate, eaten

Noun pluraleats

14 meanings of eat

Practice

1
have a mealverbtransitive or intransitive
To put food into the mouth, chew, and swallow it; to have a meal.
Children should eat vegetables with every meal.
The dog ate its kibble in under a minute.
UsagePast ate, past participle eaten: I ate early; I have already eaten.
Similarconsume, devour, dine
2
healthy or notverbintransitive
To maintain a diet of a particular quality, whether well-fed or poorly fed.
We eat well whenever we visit her grandmother.
He admits he eats poorly during busy weeks.
UsageUsually followed by an adverb: eat well, eat poorly, eat sensibly. Eat healthy is also common in speech.
Similardine
3
use upverbtransitivewith up
To use up or consume something, especially in large amounts.
Legal fees ate up most of the settlement.
These projects eat resources faster than anyone planned.
Similarconsume, devour, swallow, drain, deplete
Note
Consumption turned into wastage: what gets eaten here is money, time or substance. In Thackeray's The Virginians an estate is eaten up with mortgages, and the burden does the devouring.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
William Makepeace Thackeray wrote The Virginians. gutenberg.org
The Virginians describes an estate as eaten up with mortgages. gutenberg.org
4
wear awayverbtransitive or intransitive
To corrode or wear away a material gradually.
Strong acids eat right through aluminum.
Years of acid rain ate into the statue's surface.
UsageOften eat through, eat into or eat away at: rust ate away at the frame.
Similarcorrode, erode, wear, gnaw
5
nouncolloquialcountable
Food; something meant to be eaten, or a meal.
We stopped at a roadside stand for some cheap eats on the way home.
The little roadside diner has cheap eats, friendly service, and pie that people drive an hour for.
UsageUsually plural, eats: cheap eats, street eats, good eats.
Similarmeal, food, grub, snack
Note
A single eat can also describe the experience of a food, as when a messy, filling chocolate bar is called a big eat.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
A messy, substantial chocolate bar is described as a big eat. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

6
worryverbcolloquialtransitive
To make someone feel troubled or anxious.
Fears like that eat people from the inside.
Guilt over the lie ate at him for weeks.
UsageOften eat at someone, or the question What's eating you?, asking what is wrong.
Similarworry, bother, disturb
Note
Worry is pictured as something gnawing at a person from inside, and the worry, not the person, is the subject.
7
take a lossverbtransitive
To absorb a financial loss in a deal rather than passing it to someone else.
The supplier ate the shipping fees to keep the client.
Retailers often eat returns rather than argue with customers.
UsageCommon in eat the cost, eat the loss, and often after have to.
Similarabsorb, swallow, cover, shoulder, bear
Note
Trade talk for swallowing a cost you would rather pass on. The object is whatever is lost: eat the cost, or eat the money a forfeited bail bond would cost, as a bondsman fears in Midnight Run (1988), or eat an extra scorpion bowl a bartender has already mixed by mistake. The image is of taking something unwanted down whole.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Midnight Run was released in 1988. en.wikipedia.org
A bondsman in Midnight Run fears absorbing the financial loss from a forfeited bond. en.wiktionary.org
The bartender example involves an extra scorpion bowl prepared because of an ordering error. en.wiktionary.org
8
jamverbcolloquialtransitive
Of a machine, to take in something inserted, such as a tape, card, or coin, and damage it or fail to return it or give anything for it.
The cassette deck ate the tape and chewed up the ribbon.
Printers that eat paper always jam at the worst time.
Similarswallow, chew, mangle
9
do greatverbslangintransitive
To perform exceptionally well; to be impressive or excellent.
She absolutely ate at the audition.
The best performers eat and leave no crumbs.
UsageOften in the past with nothing after it, she ate, or in full: ate and left no crumbs.
Similarrule, excel, shine, slay, rock
Oppositeflop, bomb
Note
Praise slang in which a performance, or the performer, devours its task: you ate that performance, this song eats. Vulture used it in 2024 of a Lorde and Charli XCX remix.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Vulture used this praise slang in 2024 about a Lorde and Charli XCX remix, in an article dated June 21, 2024. vulture.com
10
seem (of food)verbintransitive
To be consumed; to come across in a particular way when eaten.
The casserole eats well even when it's cold.
Hearty stews eat like a complete dinner.
UsageOften followed by like + a noun or an adverb: eats like a meal, eats well.
Note
Here the food, not the eater, takes the subject slot: a soup that eats like a meal, mutton that eats like mutton. Grammarians call the pattern a middle (sometimes ergative) use, because the verb turns around without any passive marking. The New Monthly Magazine was praising mutton this way in 1852.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Grammarians describe this pattern as a middle construction, with active verb form and a passive-like subject. languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu
The use is also labelled ergative. en.wiktionary.org
The New Monthly Magazine published the approving phrase “mutton that eats like mutton” in 1852. en.wiktionary.org
11
oral sexverbslangvulgartransitive
To give someone oral sex, or to stimulate a particular body part orally.
In the advice column, a reader complained that her boyfriend never wanted to eat her out.
She begged him to eat her right there.
UsageOften eat someone out. Eat me! is also a rude, defiant retort.
12
be shotverbslangtransitive
To be wounded or killed by a projectile such as a bullet, especially through the mouth.
The gangster ate a bullet before he could reach the door.
Soldiers who break cover often eat lead.
UsageSet phrases: eat a bullet, eat lead. Eat a gun usually means suicide, so take care using it lightly.
Similartake, catch, stop
Note
Grim slang in which the victim "swallows" the violence. Eat a bullet can mean simply being shot, and The Big Sleep screenplay (1944) stretches the idea to blows with eat saps. But eat a gun, and A. A. Gill's eating the 12-bore, point to suicide with the barrel in the mouth.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
The Big Sleep screenplay is dated 1944. dailyscript.com
Marlowe says “eat saps” in the screenplay. dailyscript.com
A sap is a club or blackjack, supporting the reference to blows. en.wiktionary.org
A. A. Gill used the phrase “eating the 12-bore”. en.wiktionary.org
13
take oververbslangtransitive
To take over and absorb another territory or nation.
By turn fifty, my kingdom had eaten three of its smaller neighbors.
Aggressive regimes eat their neighbors and call it unification.
Similarswallow, annex, absorb, devour, gobble
14
verbcolloquial
In programming, to consume an event or exception so that other parts of the program never receive it.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of eat apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–4, 6–13

From Middle English eten, from Old English etan ("to eat"), going back through Proto-Germanic *etaną to the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁ed- ("to eat"). It is related to German essen, Dutch eten, and Swedish äta.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

Eat derives from Middle English eten and Old English etan, meaning ‘to eat’, through Proto-Germanic *etaną to Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed-, meaning ‘to eat’. en.wiktionary.org
Eat is cognate with German essen, Dutch eten, and Swedish äta. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 5

From Middle English ete, from Old English ǣt ("food, eating"), from Proto-Germanic *ētą ("food, thing to eat"), from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁ed- ("to eat"). It is related to West Frisian iten ("food") and Icelandic át ("eating; solid food").

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

The noun eat descends from Middle English ete and Old English ǣt, meaning “food, eating.” en.wiktionary.org
Old English ǣt descends from Proto-Germanic *ētą. en.wiktionary.org
Proto-Germanic *ētą meant food or something to eat. en.wiktionary.org
The noun ultimately derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁ed-, meaning “to eat,” through Germanic *etaną. en.wiktionary.org
The noun eat is related to West Frisian iten, meaning “food.” en.wiktionary.org
Icelandic át shares the noun’s Proto-Germanic ancestor and means eating or solid food. en.wiktionary.org