fed1
/fɛd
/ Past and past participle of feed.
Rhymes
Fed2
/fɛd/noun informal
1US A federal agent or official, especially a member of the FBI: I don’t think he has any friends since he grassed to the Feds...
- Naturally, the box the Feds supplied was rigged with every surveillance gizmo known to man.
- Wherever they go they think the Feds, or the police, or spies are watching them.
- I didn't follow the case against the man at all or how good a case the Feds made against him.
1.1 (the feds) British The police: her two older brothers had got a restraining order put on them by the feds...
- A gunman killed in a shootout with police had texted his girlfriend minutes earlier to say: "The feds are following me."
- The looters were trying to get in and out of JD Sports before the "feds" arrive.
- When kids talk about the feds, it's obvious that they're not talking about the FBI.
2 (usually the Fed) US short for Federal Reserve.In the middle of 1931, the Fed doubled the discount rate....
- What we don't know is whether the Fed's intervention will work.
- Had Rosie been running the Fed, the whole market meltdown could have been avoided.
Origin
Early 20th century: abbreviation of federal. The abbreviation fed had previously been used in the late 18th century to denote a member of the Federalist Party, who advocated a union of American colonies after the War of Independence.