Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense eats, present participle eating, past tense ate, past participle eaten
1. verb
When you eat something, you put it into your mouth, chew it, and swallow it.
She was eating a sandwich. [VERB noun]
The bananas should be eaten within two days. [VERB noun]
We took our time and ate slowly. [VERB]
Synonyms: consume, swallow, chew, hoover [informal] More Synonyms of eat
2. verb
If you eat sensibly or healthily, you eat food that is good for you.
...a campaign to persuade people to eat more healthily. [VERB adverb]
3. verb
If you eat, you have a meal.
Let's go out to eat. [VERB]
We ate lunch together a few times. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: have a meal, lunch, breakfast, dine More Synonyms of eat
4. verb [only cont]
If something is eating you, it is annoying or worrying you.
[informal]
'What the hell's eating you?' he demanded. [VERB noun]
5.
See have sb eating out of one's hand
6.
See eat your heart out
7.
See eat sb out of house and home
8. to be eaten alive
9. to have your cake and eat it
10. dog eat dog
11. to eat humble pie
Phrasal verbs:
See eat away
See eat into
See eat up
eat in British English
(iːt)
verbWord forms: eats, eating, ate or eaten
1.
to take into the mouth and swallow (food, etc), esp after biting and chewing
2. (tr; often foll by away or up)
to destroy as if by eating
the damp had eaten away the woodwork
3. (often foll by into)
to use up or waste
taxes ate into his inheritance
4. (often foll byinto or through)
to make (a hole, passage, etc) by eating or gnawing
rats ate through the floor
5.
to take or have (a meal or meals)
we always eat at six
6. (transitive)
to include as part of one's diet
she doesn't eat fish
7. (transitive) informal
to cause to worry; make anxious
what's eating you?
8. (transitive) vulgar, slang
to perform cunnilingus or fellatio upon
9. I'll eat my hat if
10. eat one's heart out
11. eat one's words
12. eat out of someone's hand
13. eat someone out of house and home
Derived forms
eater (ˈeater)
noun
Word origin
Old English etan; related to Gothic itan, Old High German ezzan, Latin edere, Greek edein, Sanskrit admi
EAT in British English
abbreviation for
Tanzania (international car registration)
Word origin
from E(ast) A(frica) T(anzania)
eat in American English
(it)
verb transitiveWord forms: ate (eɪt; British; usually ɛt), ˈeaten (ˈitən), ˈeating
1.
to put (food) in the mouth, chew if necessary, and swallow
2.
to use up, devour, destroy, or waste as by eating; consume or ravage
usually with away or up
3.
to penetrate and destroy, as acid does; corrode
4.
to make by or as by eating
the acid ate holes in the cloth
5.
to bring into a specified condition by eating
to eat oneself sick
6. Informal
to absorb (a financial loss); accept responsibility for losses resulting from (unsold goods, bad debts, etc.)
7. US, Slang
to worry or bother
what's eating him?
8. Vulgar, Slang
to perform fellatio or cunnilingus on
verb intransitive
9.
to eat food; have a meal or meals
10.
to destroy or use up something gradually
often with into
Idioms:
eat one's words
eat out
eat up
Derived forms
eater (ˈeater)
noun
Word origin
ME eten < OE etan, akin to Ger essen < IE base *ed-, to eat > L edere, Gr edmenai
More idioms containing
eat
eat your heart out
someone will eat their hat if something happens
dog eat dog
eat crow
have your cake and eat it
eat like a bird
someone will eat someone alive
eat someone alive
eat someone out of house and home
eat like a horse
eat humble pie
eat like a pig
eat your words
Examples of 'eat' in a sentence
eat
You both have amazing bodies do you eat healthily?
The Sun (2016)
You can choose to eat loads of foods that will help you gain body fat.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Here are three recipes for cakes the whole family will love to make together and eat.
The Sun (2016)
Schools should teach them to cook nutritional meals that they eat.
The Sun (2016)
Step one is to lose weight and eat healthily.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It is the nutritional quality of the food you eat and the serving sizes that count.
The Sun (2016)
They've got a burning desire that eats away at them.
The Sun (2017)
I simply couldn't fathom how such a muddled take on healthy eating still had us in its thrall.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
WE are constantly being reminded to eat less sugar and fat, so it is good there are some foods we can always eat more of.
The Sun (2017)
The most important thing is that they are eating healthily and exercising.
The Sun (2012)
How healthy is food we eat daily?
The Sun (2015)
Eating well has always been a challenge.
The Sun (2011)
She seems to think eating sweets will make them explode or something.
The Sun (2010)
This is a place where eating is taken extremely seriously.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Try not to shy away from eating socially.
French, Barbara Coping with Bulimia (1987)
The first meal we eat is the one where we are instinctively most resistant to innovation.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The key is committing to eating regularly and healthily.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Eating it always made me feel ashamed and in need of an urgent dental appointment.
The Sun (2013)
It will be interesting to sit people down and make them eat this stuff.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
It is to allow inflation to eat away at the real value of borrowings.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The benefits of eating meals as a family were also clearly defined.
Christianity Today (2000)
The most important thing is he is eating healthily and exercising.
The Sun (2012)
It almost makes eating it into a competition.
The Sun (2012)
It is daft to think you can get away with eating rubbish and not gain weight.
The Sun (2008)
Do not eat a full meal just before going to bed.
Atkinson, Jacqueline M Coping with Stress at Work (1988)
But just how much and what kind of fat you eat makes all the difference.
Holford, Patrick The Family Nutrition Workbook (1988)
Some struggled to feed themselves but others were simply incapable of eating the food put in front of them.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Well of course they help, as long as you eat sensibly and take exercise.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
You always want to eat well, but sometimes you just need to eat soon.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
And soup takes time to eat - one spoonful at a time.
Kowalski, Robert E The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure (1990)
We would always eat something from the garden, something fresh and seasonal.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Quotations
One should eat to live, and not live to eatMolièreL'Avare
Word lists with
eat
international car registration letters
In other languages
eat
British English: eat /iːt/ VERB
When you eat, you chew and swallow food.
She eats too many sweets.
Have you eaten today?
American English: eat
Arabic: يَأْكُلُ
Brazilian Portuguese: comer
Chinese: 吃
Croatian: jesti
Czech: jíst
Danish: spise
Dutch: eten
European Spanish: comer
Finnish: syödä
French: manger
German: essen
Greek: τρώω
Italian: mangiare
Japanese: 食べる
Korean: (...을) 먹다
Norwegian: spise
Polish: zjeść
European Portuguese: comer
Romanian: a mânca
Russian: есть поедать
Latin American Spanish: comer
Swedish: äta
Thai: รับประทาน
Turkish: yemek
Ukrainian: їсти
Vietnamese: ăn
All related terms of 'eat'
eat up
When you eat up your food, you eat all of it.
eat out
to eat away from home, esp in a restaurant
eat away
If one thing eats away another or eats away at another, it gradually destroys or uses it up.
eat crow
to admit that you have been wrong and apologize , especially in a situation where this makes you feel ashamed . The usual British expression is to eat humble pie .
eat dirt
to accept insult without complaining
eat into
If something eats into your time or your resources , it uses them, when they should be used for other things.
eat shit
to be humble or undergo humiliation
eat a dish
Food that is prepared in a particular style or combination can be referred to as a dish .
dog eat dog
You use dog eat dog to express your disapproval of a situation where everyone wants to succeed and is willing to harm other people in order to do so.
eat vegetables
Vegetables are plants such as cabbages , potatoes , and onions which you can cook and eat.
ready-to-eat
(of a meal or food product) prepared or cooked in advance , with no further cooking or preparation required before being eaten
to eat crow
If someone eats crow , they admit that they have been wrong and apologize , especially in situations where this is humiliating or embarrassing for them.
eat humble pie
to admit that you have been wrong and apologize , especially in situations where this is humiliating or embarrassing for you
eat your words
to be proved to be wrong when you have given an opinion about something
all-you-can-eat
An all-you-can-eat buffet or restaurant is a buffet or restaurant at which you pay a fixed price, no matter how much or how little you eat .
eat like a bird
to eat very little
eat like a horse
to eat a lot because you have a large appetite
eat like a pig
to eat a lot of food, usually in a greedy or disgusting manner
eat one's words
If you say that someone has to eat their words , you mean that they have to admit that they were wrong about something they said in the past , especially when this makes them look foolish .
eat someone alive
to cause someone great pain or distress
I'll eat my hat
I will be greatly surprised if (something that proves me wrong) happens
eat your heart out
People use eat your heart out with the name of a person when they are doing something that they think the person named might be jealous of.
to eat humble pie
If you eat humble pie , you speak or behave in a way which tells people that you admit you were wrong about something.
eat one's heart out
to brood or pine with grief or longing
I'll eat my hat if
I will be greatly surprised if (something happens that proves me wrong)
eat out of someone's hand
If you have someone eating out of your hand , they are completely under your control.
have one's cake and eat it
to enjoy both of two desirable but incompatible alternatives
have your cake and eat it
to get the benefits of two different situations or things, when you should only get the benefit of one of them
eat someone out of house and home
If you eat someone out of house and home , you eat a lot of their food, especially when you are living with them.
someone will eat someone alive
said to mean that someone will completely defeat someone else
to have your cake and eat it
If you think that someone wants the benefits of doing two things when it is only reasonable to expect the benefits of doing one, you can say that they want to have their cake and eat it .
someone will eat their hat if something happens
said to mean that someone does not believe that a particular thing will happen
Chinese translation of 'eat'
eat
(iːt)
Word forms:ptate
Word forms:ppeaten (ˈiːtn)
vt
[food, breakfast, lunch, etc]吃 (chī)
vi
(= consume food) 吃 (chī)
(= have a meal) 吃饭(飯) (chīfàn)
All related terms of 'eat'
eat out
下馆(館)子吃饭(飯) xià guǎnzi chīfàn
eat up
( food ) 把 ... 吃光 bǎ ... chīguāng
eat away
eat away at : sea, rust ) 侵蚀(蝕) qīnshí
eat into
( time, savings, resources ) 吞噬 tūnshì
to go/eat
走/吃 zǒu/chī
enough to eat
够(夠)吃 gòuchī
let's go/eat
我们(們)走/吃吧 wǒmen zǒu/chī ba ⇒ I'm bored. Let's go home. → 我觉得无聊，我们回家吧。 Wǒ juéde wúliáo, wǒmen huíjiā ba.