EAT AT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does eat at mean? 

• EAT AT (verb)
  The verb EAT AT has 1 sense:

1. become ground down or deteriorate

  Familiarity information: EAT AT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EAT AT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become ground down or deteriorate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

eat at; erode; gnaw; gnaw at; wear away

Context example:

Her confidence eroded

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

crumble; decay; dilapidate (fall into decay or ruin)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

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)

A recent study has found that men who eat at least two servings a week of yogurt may be lowering their risk for colorectal cancer.

(Eating Yogurt May Lower Risk of Colon Cancer in Men, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Take a seat and bear me company, Jane: please God, it is the last meal but one you will eat at Thornfield Hall for a long time.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Among the 36 children who received omalizumab, 30 (83 percent) were able to eat at least two grams of two or more foods to which they were allergic, compared with only 4 out of 12 children (33 percent) who received placebo.

(Omalizumab improves efficacy of oral immunotherapy for multiple food allergies, National Institutes of Health)

Her majesty used to put a bit of meat upon one of my dishes, out of which I carved for myself, and her diversion was to see me eat in miniature: for the queen (who had indeed but a weak stomach) took up, at one mouthful, as much as a dozen English farmers could eat at a meal, which to me was for some time a very nauseous sight.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

These are not suffered to taste a grain of oats, except upon certain days, till eighteen years old; nor milk, but very rarely; and in summer they graze two hours in the morning, and as many in the evening, which their parents likewise observe; but the servants are not allowed above half that time, and a great part of their grass is brought home, which they eat at the most convenient hours, when they can be best spared from work.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)