eat
/it/ verb A1- To consume (something solid or semi-solid, usually food) by putting it into the mouth and swallowing it. · He's eating an apple.· Don't disturb me now. Can't you see that I'm eating?
- To consume a meal. · What time do we eat this evening?
- To have a particular quality of diet; to be well-fed or underfed. · I try to eat healthy these days.
- To be ingested. · It's a soup that eats like a meal.
- To be savored or enjoyed; to taste in a specified way. · It's an unattractive dish, but it eats pretty good.
- To destroy, consume, or use up. · This project is eating up all the money.· That hobby eats his savings.
- To consume (an exception, an event, etc.) so that other parts of the program do not receive it.
- To damage, destroy, or fail to eject a removable part or an inserted object. · The VHS recorder just ate the tape and won't spit it out.· John is late for the meeting because the photocopier ate his report.
Plural eat · He/she/it eats · Past ate · Past participle eaten · -ing form eating
Verb forms
- Base form
- eat
- He/she/it
- eats
- Past
- ate
- Past participle
- eaten
- -ing form
- eating
An irregular verb: learn its past and past participle by heart.
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
“Why, he would eat us all up.”
This pleased Dorothy, who had eaten nothing but nuts all day, and she made a hearty meal of the ripe fruit.
To be sure, neither the Woodman nor the Scarecrow ever ate anything, but she was not made of tin nor straw, and could not live unless she was fed.
“It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh,” said the Scarecrow thoughtfully, “for you must sleep, and eat and drink.
Other matches
Learn eat in real texts
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