feeder

English

Etymology

FromMiddle Englishfeedere,federe,fedare,equivalent tofeed+‎-er.

Pronunciation

• (General American)IPA^(key):/ˈfidɚ/

• Audio(General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-iːdə(ɹ)

Noun

feeder(pluralfeeders)

1. One whofeeds,or gives food to another.
   1. Theparticipantinfeederismwho feeds the other (thefeedee).
      • 2010,Niall Richardson,Transgressive Bodies:

        Often similes such as 'soft as velvet' or 'fluffy like a cloud' will be employed and thefeederwill describe how he feels he can be lost in the enveloping folds of soft flesh.

2. One whofeeds,or takes in food.
   • c.1596–1598(date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”,inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…](First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard,andEd[ward]Blount,published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene v]:

     The patch is kind enough, but a hugefeeder,
     Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day
     More than the wild-cat;[…]

   • 1871,George Miller Beard,Eating and Drinking:

     There are many who are dietarians in theory, but liberalfeedersin practice. They suppose or maintain that it is a duty to deny oneself of all luxuries at the table, but practically they take the best that they can get.

3. One who, or that which,feedsmaterial into something (especially amachine).

   Coordinate terms:feed,feedbin,hopper

   Hyponyms:barfeed,barfeeder

   • 2007,Thomas E. Lightburn,The Shield and the Shark,page173:

     When the claxon sounded they immediately stopped what they were doing and uncovered the Oerlikon. Paddy, who was ammunitionfeeder,stood by while Jock trained the 20mm gun around.

4. That which is used tofeed.

   a birdfeeder

5. Atributarystream,especially of acanal.
   • 1827,Conrad Malte-Brun,Universal Geography, or A Description of All the Parts of the World, on a New Plan,Edinburgh: Adam Black,volume 6, book 101,285:

     The surface of the Balaton and the surrounding marshes is not less than 24 German square miles, or 384 English square miles; its principalfeederis the Szala, but all the water it receives appears inconsiderable relatively to its superficial extent, and the quantity lost in evaporation.

6. Abranch lineof arailway.
   • 1942May-June, Charles E. Lee, “The Brampton Railway”, inRailway Magazine,page140:

     This line, described as a valuablefeederto the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, was opened on July 8, 1836, and superseded the older wagonway.

   • 1959August, “Talking of Trains: The costs of transport”, inTrains Illustrated,page346:

     Another factor to be allowed for in establishing the remunerativeness of a service was its value as afeederto the rest of the system.

7. Atransmissionlinethat feeds the electricity for anelectricitysubstation,or for atransmitter.
8. (education)Short forfeeder school.
9. (shipbuilding,navigation)Afeeder ship.
10. (US,law)Ajudgewhose law clerks are often selected to become clerks for theSupreme Court.
11. (baseball,slang,archaic,1800s)Thepitcher.
12. (video games,derogatory)A player whose character is killed by the opposing player or team more than once, deliberately or through lack of skills and experience, thus helping the opposing side.
13. (obsolete)One whoabetsanother.
    • c.1598–1600(date written),William Shakespeare,“As You Like It”,inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…](First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard,andEd[ward]Blount,published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene iv],lines815–818:

      Go with me; if you like upon report
      The soil, the profit, and this kind of life,
      I will your very faithfulfeederbe,
      And buy it with your gold right suddenly.

14. (obsolete)Aparasite.

Derived terms

• barfeeder
• birdfeeder(bird feeder)
• boobfeeder
• bottlefeeder(bottle feeder,bottle-feeder)
• bottom feeder(bottom-feeder)
• breastfeeder
• feeder cattle
• feeder fish
• feeder fund
• feeder head
• feederism
• feeder line
• feederliner
• feeder reservoir
• feeder school
• filter feeder(filter-feeder)
• fluid feeder
• foul feeder
• nonfeeder
• overfeeder
• snake feeder
• underfeeder

Translations

that which feeds

• Finnish:syötin(fi)(device),syöttäjä(fi)(person)

that which is used to feed

• Bulgarian:хранилка(bg)f(hranilka)
• Finnish:syötin(fi)(active device),syöttöpaikka(passive device)
• Hungarian:etető(hu)

tributary stream

• Bulgarian:приток(bg)m(pritok)
• Finnish:sivujoki(fi)

railway branch line

• Finnish:sivuraide
• Indonesian:pengumpan
• Malay:penghantar

transmission line

• Finnish:syöttöjohto

baseball: pitcher—seepitcher

References

• “feeder”,inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.

Anagrams

• ferede,reefed,refeed

Manx

Etymology

FromMiddle Irish*figedóir(“weaver”)(compareIrishfíodóir,Scottish Gaelicfigheadair), fromfigid(“weaves, plaits, intertwines”,verb).Bysurface analysis,fee+‎-der.

Noun

feederm(genitive singularfeeder,pluralfeederyn)

1. spider

   Synonym:doo-oallee

2. weaver

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
feeder	eeder	veeder
Note:Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “figedóir”,ineDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language