# eat

Pronunciation: say "EET" US /it/, UK /iːt/

## Verb

1. To put food into the mouth, chew, and swallow it; to have a meal.
   - Simple: To put food in your mouth and swallow it, or to have a meal.
   - _Children should eat vegetables with every meal._
   - _The dog ate its kibble in under a minute._
2. To maintain a diet of a particular quality, whether well-fed or poorly fed.
   - Simple: To follow a certain kind of diet, healthy or not.
   - _We eat well whenever we visit her grandmother._
   - _He admits he eats poorly during busy weeks._
3. To use up or consume something, especially in large amounts.
   - Simple: To use a lot of something, such as money or time, often until little is left.
   - _Legal fees ate up most of the settlement._
   - _These projects eat resources faster than anyone planned._
4. To corrode or wear away a material gradually.
   - Simple: To slowly wear away or damage a surface, like acid or rust does.
   - _Strong acids eat right through aluminum._
   - _Years of acid rain ate into the statue's surface._
6. To make someone feel troubled or anxious. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To make someone feel worried or upset.
   - _Fears like that eat people from the inside._
   - _Guilt over the lie ate at him for weeks._
7. To absorb a financial loss in a deal rather than passing it to someone else.
   - Simple: To accept a money loss yourself instead of passing it on.
   - _The supplier ate the shipping fees to keep the client._
   - _Retailers often eat returns rather than argue with customers._
8. 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. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: When a machine takes a coin, card or tape you put in and ruins it, keeps it, or gives nothing for it.
   - _The cassette deck ate the tape and chewed up the ribbon._
   - _Printers that eat paper always jam at the worst time._
9. To perform exceptionally well; to be impressive or excellent. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To do something really well, or to be really impressive.
   - _She absolutely ate at the audition._
   - _The best performers eat and leave no crumbs._
10. To be consumed; to come across in a particular way when eaten.
   - Simple: To taste or feel a certain way when you eat it.
   - _The casserole eats well even when it's cold._
   - _Hearty stews eat like a complete dinner._
11. To give someone oral sex, or to stimulate a particular body part orally. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To perform oral sex on someone or on a body part.
   - _In the advice column, a reader complained that her boyfriend never wanted to eat her out._
   - _She begged him to eat her right there._
12. To be wounded or killed by a projectile such as a bullet, especially through the mouth. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To be hit or killed by a bullet or shot, often in the mouth.
   - _The gangster ate a bullet before he could reach the door._
   - _Soldiers who break cover often eat lead._
13. To take over and absorb another territory or nation. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To take over and add another country's land to your own.
   - _By turn fifty, my kingdom had eaten three of its smaller neighbors._
   - _Aggressive regimes eat their neighbors and call it unification._

## Noun

5. Food; something meant to be eaten, or a meal. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Food, or something you can eat.
   - _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._

## Other meanings

- (verb) In programming, to consume an event or exception so that other parts of the program never receive it.

## Origin

**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.
**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").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/eat (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).