EAT (ate, eaten)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: ate    , eaten   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does eat mean? 

• EAT (verb)
  The verb EAT has 6 senses:

1. take in solid food

2. eat a meal; take a meal

3. take in food; used of animals only

4. worry or cause anxiety in a persistent way

5. use up (resources or materials)

6. cause to deteriorate due to the action of water, air, or an acid

  Familiarity information: EAT used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EAT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they eat    ... he / she / it eats   
Past simple: ate   
Past participle: eaten   
-ing form: eating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take in solid food

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

What did you eat for dinner last night?

Hypernyms (to "eat" is one way to...):

consume; have; ingest; take; take in (serve oneself to, or consume regularly)

eat (eat a meal; take a meal)

"Eat" entails doing...:

get down; swallow (pass through the esophagus as part of eating or drinking)

chew; jaw; manducate; masticate (chew (food); to bite and grind with the teeth)

Verb group:

eat; feed (take in food; used of animals only)

eat (eat a meal; take a meal)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "eat"):

peck; peck at; pick at (eat like a bird)

fill; fill up (eat until one is sated)

eat up; finish; polish off (finish eating all the food on one's plate or on the table)

devour; guttle; pig; raven (eat greedily)

ruminate (chew the cuds)

nibble; pick; piece (eat intermittently; take small bites of)

bolt down; garbage down; gobble up; shovel in (eat a large amount of food quickly)

bolt; gobble (eat hastily without proper chewing)

peck; pick up (eat by pecking at, like a bird)

fare (eat well)

slurp (eat noisily)

wolf; wolf down (eat hastily)

fress; gluttonise; gluttonize (eat a lot and without restraint)

wash down (eat food accompanied by lots of liquid; also use metaphorically)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They eat more bread

Derivation:

eater (any green goods that are good to eat)

eater (someone who consumes food for nourishment)

eating (the act of consuming food)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Eat a meal; take a meal

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

I didn't eat yet, so I gladly accept your invitation

Hypernyms (to "eat" is one way to...):

consume; have; ingest; take; take in (serve oneself to, or consume regularly)

Verb group:

eat (take in solid food)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "eat"):

banquet; feast; junket (partake in a feast or banquet)

binge; englut; engorge; glut; gorge; gormandise; gormandize; gourmandize; ingurgitate; overeat; overgorge; overindulge; pig out; satiate; scarf out; stuff (overeat or eat immodestly; make a pig of oneself)

breakfast (eat an early morning meal)

brunch (eat a meal in the late morning)

lunch (take the midday meal)

mess (eat in a mess hall)

nosh; snack (eat a snack; eat lightly)

dig in; pitch in (eat heartily)

eat (take in solid food)

picnic (eat alfresco, in the open air)

dine (have supper; eat dinner)

dine out; eat out (eat at a restaurant or at somebody else's home)

dine in; eat in (eat at home)

victual (take in nourishment)

take away; take out (buy and consume food from a restaurant or establishment that sells prepared food)

break bread (have a meal, usually with company)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue eat

Also:

eat in (eat at home)

eat out (eat at a restaurant or at somebody else's home)

eat up (finish eating all the food on one's plate or on the table)

Derivation:

eater (someone who consumes food for nourishment)

eating (the act of consuming food)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take in food; used of animals only

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

eat; feed

Context example:

What do whales eat?

Hypernyms (to "eat" is one way to...):

consume; have; ingest; take; take in (serve oneself to, or consume regularly)

Verb group:

eat (take in solid food)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "eat"):

forage (wander and feed)

raven (feed greedily)

suckle (suck milk from the mother's breasts)

browse; crop; graze; pasture; range (feed as in a meadow or pasture)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sentence example:

The animals eat

Derivation:

eating (the act of consuming food)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Worry or cause anxiety in a persistent way

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

eat; eat on

Context example:

What's eating you?

Hypernyms (to "eat" is one way to...):

vex; worry (disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will eat him

Sense 5

Meaning:

Use up (resources or materials)

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

consume; deplete; eat; eat up; exhaust; run through; use up; wipe out

Context example:

They run through 20 bottles of wine a week

Hypernyms (to "eat" is one way to...):

drop; expend; spend (pay out)

Verb group:

occupy; take; use up (require (time or space))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "eat"):

drain (deplete of resources)

indulge; luxuriate (enjoy to excess)

burn; burn off; burn up (use up (energy))

spend (spend completely)

exhaust; play out; run down; sap; tire (deplete)

run out (exhaust the supply of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

They eat more bread

Sense 6

Meaning:

Cause to deteriorate due to the action of water, air, or an acid

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

corrode; eat; rust

Context example:

The steady dripping of water rusted the metal stopper in the sink

Hypernyms (to "eat" is one way to...):

damage (inflict damage upon)

Verb group:

corrode; rust (become destroyed by water, air, or a corrosive such as an acid)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

They ate before the drivers ate, and no man sought his sleeping-robe till he had seen to the feet of the dogs he drove.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Whoever roasts and eats it will find plenty of fat upon it, it has lived so well!

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The green girl, who was very kind to them, filled Dorothy's basket with good things to eat, and fastened a little bell around Toto's neck with a green ribbon.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

"My belief is, doctor," he said, "that he has eaten his birds, and that he just took and ate them raw!"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But my aunt had her own ideas concerning London provision, and ate but little.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Eating toxic mushrooms causes more than 100 deaths a year, globally, and leaves thousands of people in need of urgent medical assistance.

(New Test Identifies Poisonous Mushrooms, Agricultural Research Service)

But they were not asked to specify which type of chocolate they ate.

(Eat Chocolate for Steady Heartbea, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

He knew clearly what was to be done, and this he did by promptly eating the ptarmigan.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But there’s no need to start eating chocolate if you don’t already.

(Can Chocolate Really Be Good for You?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The infants were randomly assigned to either avoid peanut entirely or to regularly eat at least 6 grams of peanut protein per week.

(Peanut Consumption in Infancy Lowers Peanut Allergy, NIH)