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Definition of "eat" []

  • To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption. (verb-transitive)
  • To take in and absorb as food: a plant that eats insects; a cell that eats bacteria. (verb-transitive)
  • To include habitually or by preference in one's diet: a bird that eats insects, fruit, and seeds; stopped eating red meat on advice from her doctor. (verb-transitive)
  • To destroy, ravage, or use up by or as if by ingesting: "Covering news in the field eats money” ( George F. Will). (verb-transitive)
  • To erode or corrode: waves that ate away the beach; an acid that eats the surface of a machine part. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "eat" in a sentence
  • "Of course, now my parents are freaking over the organic grassfed meat I eat and want me to ‘eat by my blood type', which being A+ is an opposite diet of high carb, low fat, veggie stuff…"
  • "Just eat n eat n eat n eat… maybe I should go to town and get some food."
  • "Jemmy Button would not eat land-birds, because “eat dead men”: they are unwilling even to mention their dead friends."