eat

SayEET/it//iːt/

Verbeats, eating, ate, eaten

Noun pluraleats

14 meanings of eat

Practice

1
have a mealverbtransitive or intransitive
To put food in your mouth and swallow it, or to have a meal.
The baby is learning to eat small pieces of banana.
He was eating a sandwich at his desk.
UsageSay I ate yesterday and I have eaten.
Similarconsume, devour, dine
2
healthy or notverbintransitive
To follow a certain kind of diet, healthy or not.
Students often eat badly when they live on their own for the first time.
They eat healthy now that the kids are older.
UsageSay eat well or eat badly.
Similardine
3
use upverbtransitivewith up
To use a lot of something, such as money or time, often until little is left.
Like a fire that burns up everything until nothing is left.
The new car ate all his savings.
Big repairs can eat your whole budget.
Similarconsume, devour, swallow, drain, deplete
Note
4
wear awayverbtransitive or intransitive
To slowly wear away or damage a surface, like acid or rust does.
Like the sea slowly wearing away the rocks along a cliff.
Acid can eat through metal over time.
Rust slowly ate away at the old iron gate.
UsageOften eat through or eat away something.
Similarcorrode, erode, wear, gnaw
5
nouncolloquialcountable
Food, or something you can eat.
Let's find a place with good eats near the station.
Let's grab some eats before the movie starts.
UsageMost often eats: cheap eats.
Similarmeal, food, grub, snack
Note

Less common meanings

6
worryverbcolloquialtransitive
To make someone feel worried or upset.
Doubts like that eat you up inside.
You look upset. What's eating you?
UsageWhat's eating you? means what is worrying you?
Similarworry, bother, disturb
Note
7
take a lossverbtransitive
To accept a money loss yourself instead of passing it on.
The store ate the cost of the broken item.
Sometimes you have to eat a small loss.
UsageOften eat the cost: pay it yourself.
Similarabsorb, swallow, cover, shoulder, bear
Note
8
jamverbcolloquialtransitive
When a machine takes a coin, card or tape you put in and ruins it, keeps it, or gives nothing for it.
The old VCR ate my favorite tape.
Cheap players sometimes eat your discs.
Similarswallow, chew, mangle
9
do greatverbslangintransitive
To do something really well, or to be really impressive.
She really ate during her dance performance.
Those dancers eat every single show.
UsageOften just she ate or you ate.
Similarrule, excel, shine, slay, rock
Oppositeflop, bomb
Note
10
seem (of food)verbintransitive
To taste or feel a certain way when you eat it.
This soup eats like a full meal.
Thick steaks eat better when rested first.
UsageSay the stew eats like a meal, or eats well.
Note
11
oral sexverbslangvulgartransitive
To perform oral sex on someone or on a body part.
He offered to eat her after dinner.
She loves it when he eats her slowly.
UsageOften eat someone out. Eat me! is also a rude way to tell someone off.
12
be shotverbslangtransitive
To be hit or killed by a bullet or shot, often in the mouth.
He nearly ate a bullet in the shootout.
Step out there and you might eat a round.
UsageUsed in eat a bullet. Eat a gun can mean killing yourself.
Similartake, catch, stop
Note
13
take oververbslangtransitive
To take over and add another country's land to your own.
The empire ate its smaller neighbors one by one.
In this game, if you grow too slowly, a bigger country will eat you.
Similarswallow, annex, absorb, devour, gobble
14
verbcolloquial
In a computer program, to catch and stop a message so other parts never get 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

It comes from Old English etan, meaning "to eat." This goes back to very old Germanic and Indo-European root words for eating.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

The verb eat descends from Old English etan, meaning “to eat.” en.wiktionary.org
Its ancestry extends through Germanic to an Indo-European root for eating. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 5

It comes from Old English ǣt, meaning "food" or "eating." This goes back to old Germanic and Indo-European words connected with eating.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

The noun eat derives from Old English ǣt. en.wiktionary.org
Old English ǣt meant food or eating. en.wiktionary.org
The word traces back through Germanic to an Indo-European root connected with eating. en.wiktionary.org