EAT, v.i. To perform successively (and successfully) the functions of mastication, humectation, and deglutition. "I was in the drawing-room, enjoying my dinner," said Brillat- Savarin, beginning an anecdote. "What!" interrupted Rochebriant; "eating dinner in a drawing-room?" "I must beg you to observe, monsieur," explained the great gastronome, "that I did not say I was eating my dinner, but enjoying it. I had dined an hour before."

Source: THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993)
 

Eat \Eat\ ([=e]t), v. t. [imp. Ate ([=a]t; 277), Obsolescent & Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. p. Eaten ([=e]t"'n), Obs. or Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. pr. & vb. n. Eating.]

[OE. eten, AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D. eten, OHG. ezzan, G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. [aum]ta, Dan. [ae]de, Goth. itan, Ir. & Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere, Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad. [root]6. Cf. Etch, Fret to rub, Edible.]

1. To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread. "To eat grass as oxen." --Dan. iv. 25. [1913 Webster]

They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps. cvi. 28. [1913 Webster]

The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine. --Gen. xli. 20. [1913 Webster]

The lion had not eaten the carcass. --1 Kings xiii. 28. [1913 Webster]

With stories told of many a feat, How fairy Mab the junkets eat. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

The island princes overbold Have eat our substance. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages. --Thackeray. [1913 Webster]

2. To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to cause to disappear. [1913 Webster]

To eat humble pie. See under Humble.

To eat of (partitive use). "Eat of the bread that can not waste." --Keble.

To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the Citation under Blurt.)

To eat out, to consume completely. "Eat out the heart and comfort of it." --Tillotson.

To eat the wind out of a vessel (Naut.), to gain slowly to windward of her.

Syn: To consume; devour; gnaw; corrode. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

Eat \Eat\, v. i.

1. To take food; to feed; especially, to take solid, in distinction from liquid, food; to board. [1913 Webster]

He did eat continually at the king's table. --2 Sam. ix. 13. [1913 Webster]

2. To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef. [1913 Webster]

3. To make one's way slowly. [1913 Webster]

To eat, To eat in or To eat into, to make way by corrosion; to gnaw; to consume. "A sword laid by, which eats into itself." --Byron.

To eat to windward (Naut.), to keep the course when closehauled with but little steering; -- said of a vessel. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

75 Moby Thesaurus words for "eat": ablate, absorb, assimilate, bite, bleed white, break bread, burn up, canker, consume, corrode, count calories, deplete, devour, diet, digest, disregard, dissolve, down, drain, drain of resources, drink, eat away, eat into, eat out, eat up, engorge, engulf, erode, etch, exhaust, expend, fall to, fare, feed, feed on, finish, finish off, gnaw, gobble, gobble up, gulp, gulp down, hunger, ignore, imbibe, impoverish, ingest, ingurgitate, meal, nibble away, oxidize, partake, partake of, pitch in, pocket, pocket the affront, relish, rust, savor, spend, squander, stomach, suck dry, swallow, swallow an insult, swallow up, swill, swill down, take, taste, turn aside provocation, use up, waste away, wear away, wolf down

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

eat

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

Eat \Eat\ ([=e]t), v. t. [imp. Ate ([=a]t; 277), Obsolescent & Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. p. Eaten ([=e]t"'n), Obs. or Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. pr. & vb. n. Eating.]

[OE. eten, AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D. eten, OHG. ezzan, G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. ["a]ta, Dan. [ae]de, Goth. itan, Ir. & Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere, Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad. [root]6. Cf. Etch, Fret to rub, Edible.]

1. To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread. ``To eat grass as oxen.'' --Dan. iv. 25.

They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps. cvi. 28.

The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine. --Gen. xli. 20.

The lion had not eaten the carcass. --1 Kings xiii. 28.

With stories told of many a feat, How fairy Mab the junkets eat. --Milton.

The island princes overbold Have eat our substance. --Tennyson.

His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages. --Thackeray.

2. To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to cause to disappear.

To eat humble pie. See under Humble.

To eat of (partitive use). ``Eat of the bread that can not waste.'' --Keble.

To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the Citation under Blurt.)

To eat out, to consume completely. ``Eat out the heart and comfort of it.'' --Tillotson.

To eat the wind out of a vessel (Naut.), to gain slowly to windward of her.

Syn: To consume; devour; gnaw; corrode.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Eat \Eat\, v. i.

1. To take food; to feed; especially, to take solid, in distinction from liquid, food; to board.

He did eat continually at the king's table. --2 Sam. ix. 13.

2. To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef.

3. To make one's way slowly.

To eat, To eat in or into, to make way by corrosion; to gnaw; to consume. ``A sword laid by, which eats into itself.'' --Byron.

To eat to windward (Naut.), to keep the course when closehauled with but little steering; -- said of a vessel.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)