Wiktionary

eat

See also:EAT

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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FromMiddle Englisheten,fromOld Englishetan(“to eat”),fromProto-West Germanic*etan,fromProto-Germanic*etaną(“to eat”),fromProto-Indo-European*h₁édti,from*h₁ed-(“to eat”).

Verb

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Boyeatinga mango

eat(third-person singular simple presenteats,present participleeating,simple pastateor(dialectal)etor(obsolete)eat,past participleeatenor(dialectal)etten)

  1. Toingest;to be ingested.
    1. (transitive,intransitive)Toconsume(somethingsolidorsemi-solid,usuallyfood) by putting it into themouthandswallowingit.
      He'seatingan apple. / Don't disturb me now; can't you see that I'meating?
      • 1611,The Holy Bible,[…](King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker,[…],→OCLC,1 Corinthians8:8,column 2:
        But meate commendeth vs not to God: for neither if weeate,are we the better: neither if weeeatenot, are we the woꝛſe.
      • 1892,Walter Besant,chapter II, inThe Ivory Gate[…],New York, N.Y.:Harper & Brothers,[…],→OCLC:
        At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do noteatparchment or foolscap or red tape, but theyeatthe luncheon crumbs.
      • 1959,Georgette Heyer,chapter 1, inThe Unknown Ajax:
        But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw[…]that he hadeatenno more than a spoonful of that either.
      • 2008,BioWare,Mass Effect(Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts,→ISBN,→OCLC,PC, scene: Noveria:
        Shepard: Everyone on this station is chafing under Anoleis' extortion. You might end up a hero.
        Lorik Qui'in: My employers rely on the goodwill of the Executive Board to work here.
        Wrex:If these "executives" don't blame Anoleis for provoking this, they're fools. You shouldeatthem.
    3. (intransitive)To consume ameal.
      What time do weeatthis evening?
    4. (intransitive,ergative)To be eaten.
      It's a soup thateatslike a meal.
      • 1852,The New Monthly Magazine,page310:
        I don't know any quarter in England where you get such undeniable mutton—mutton thateatslike mutton, instead of the nasty watery, stringy, turnipy stuff, neither mutton nor lamb, that other countries are inundated with.
      • 1863,J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu,“In Which the Minstrelsy Proceeds”, inThe House by the Church-yard.[…],volume I, London:Tinsley, Brothers,[…],→OCLC,page73:
        [D]ish him with thlitheth of orangeth, barberrieth, grapeth, goothberrieth, and butter; and you will find that heeathsdeliciouthly either with farced pain or gammon pain.
        [D]ish him[the fish]with slices of oranges, barberries, grapes, gooseberries, and butter; and you will find that heeatsdeliriously either with farced pain or gammon pain.
    5. (copulative,intransitive)To have a particularqualityofdiet;to bewell-fedorunderfed(typically as "eathealthy"or" eatgood").
  2. Touse up.
    1. (transitive,often withup)Todestroy,consume,oruse up.
      This project iseatingup all the money.
    2. (transitive,programming,informal)Toconsume(anexception,anevent,etc.) so that other parts of the program do notreceiveit.
      • 2005,Wallace B. McClure, Gregory A. Beamer, John J. Croft IV,Professional ADO.NET 2,page246:
        A bigger problem, however, is that if you catch/eatan exception and do nothing with it, you are very likely introducing subtle bugs in your application that will be next to impossible to track down.
    3. (transitive,informal,of a device)Todamage,destroy,orfailtoejectaremovablepartor aninsertedobject.
      The VHS recorder justatethe tape and won't spit it out.
      John is late for the meeting because the photocopieratehis report.
    4. (transitive,informal,of a vending machine or similar device)Toconsumemoney(or otherinstrumentsofvalue,such as atoken)depositedorinsertedby auser,whilefailingto eitherprovidethe intendedproductorserviceorreturnthepayment.
      The video game in the corner justatemy quarter.
  3. (transitive,informal)To cause (someone) toworry.
    What'seatingyou?
  4. (transitive,business)To take thelossin atransaction.
    • 1988,George Gallo,Midnight Run(movie)
      I have to have him in court tomorrow, if he doesn't show up, I forfeit the bond and I have toeatthe $300,000.
    • 1999,Ronald S. Beitman,Liquor Liability: A Primer for Winning Your Case,page27:
      The server made an error when taking the order. The bartender prepared two scorpion bowls. When the error was realized the bartender was faced with having to "eat"the extra scorpion bowl[…]
    • 2011,Lorenzo Carver,Venture Capital Valuation:
      When they were doing it with the valuation professionals, they were billing the client, but the valuation professional in a lot of those early cases had toeatthe cost of showing the auditor how the auditors' test model was incorrect.
  5. (transitive,slang)To beinjuredorkilledby (something such as afirearmor itsprojectile), especially in themouth.
    • 1944,William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman,The Big Sleep(screenplay)
      I risk my whole future, the hatred of the cops and Eddie Mars' gang. I dodge bullets andeatsaps.
    • 1991,Stephen King,Needful Things:
      And, of course, there was Brian Rusk, who hadeatena bullet at the ripe old age of eleven.
    • 1997,A. A. Gill, "Diary" (inThe Spectator,1 November 1997):
      Friends are only necessary in the ghastly country, where you have to have them, along with rubber boots and a barometer and secateurs, to put off bucolic idiocy, a wet brain, oreatingthe 12-bore.
    • 2012,Kaya McLaren,How I Came to Sparkle Again: A Novel,St. Martin's Press,→ISBN:
      Mike had been to other calls where someone hadeatena gun. He knew to expect teeth embedded in the ceiling and brains dripping off it.
    • 2017,Edward W. Robertson,Stardust,Edward W. Robertson:
      The animal was sweating and scared and MacAdams was surprised when they finished up without either of themeatinga kick.
    • 2018,Daniel Tomazic,Of Bullies and Men: Young Adult Fiction,→ISBN,page18:
      There was a resounding smacking noise and Georgy was sure Philip had justeatena fist.
  6. (transitive,intransitive)Tocorrodeorerode.
    The acid rainateaway the statue.  The strong acideatsthrough the metal.
  7. (transitive,slang)To performoral sex(on a person or body part).
    Eatme!
    Iatehis ass.
    Yeah,eatthat dick /eatthat pussy.
  9. (stative,slang)To be verygood;torule,toslay.
    Youatethat performance!
    This songeats!
    Synonyms:devour,eat and leave no crumbs,bang,rock,slap
    • 2024June 21, Jason P. Frank, “Who Else Needs to Work It Out on a Remix?”, inVulture‎[1]:
      LordeandCharli XCXconfronted each other via song like some kind of alt-pop musical-theater number, and itate.“The girl, so confusing version with lorde,”like all the best pop music, features multiple moments that burrow into your brain and refuse to leave, giving you no other choice but to simply relisten to the track.
  10. (transitive,slang)Toannex.
Conjugation
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Conjugation ofeat
infinitive (to)eat
present tense past tense
1st-personsingulareat ate,et*,eat†
2nd-personsingular eat,eatest† ate,et*,eat†,atest†
3rd-personsingular eats,eateth† ate,et*,eat†
plural eat
subjunctive eat ate,et*,eat†
imperative eat —
participles eating eaten,etten*,eat†

†Archaicorobsolete. * Dialectal.

Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Terms derived fromeat(verb)
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
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Etymology 2

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FromMiddle Englishete,ate,æte,fromOld Englishǣt(“food, eating”),fromProto-West Germanic*āt,fromProto-Germanic*ētą(“food, thing to eat”),fromProto-Indo-European*h₁ed-(“to eat”).Cognate withNorth Frisianad,it(“food”),GermanAas(“carrion”),Norwegianåt,Icelandicát(“food”).

Noun

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eat(pluraleats)

  1. (colloquial)Something to be eaten; ameal;afooditem.
    • 2011,William Chitty, Nigel Barker, Michael Valos,Integrated Marketing Communications,page167:
      Eating a Picnic creates a flurry of wafer pieces, flying peanuts and chocolate crumbs.[…]As well as being messy, Picnic happens to be a bigeat– something of a consumption challenge in fact.

Anagrams

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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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eat

  1. third-personsingularpresentactivesubjunctiveofeō

Northern Sami

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Pronunciation

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  • (Kautokeino)IPA(key):/ˈea̯h(t)/

Verb

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eat

  1. first-personpluralpresentofii

West Frisian

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Etymology

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FromOld Frisianāwet,āet,fromā(“always, ever”)+*wiht(“thing, creature”)(fromProto-West Germanic*wihti). CompareEnglishowt,aught.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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eat

  1. something,anything
    Antonym:neat

Further reading

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  • “eat”,inWurdboek fan de Fryske taal(in Dutch),2011
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