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.
      
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            They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps.
                                                  cvi. 28.
      
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            The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine.
                                                  --Gen. xli.
                                                  20.
      
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            The lion had not eaten the carcass.   --1 Kings
                                                  xiii. 28.
      
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            With stories told of many a feat,
            How fairy Mab the junkets eat.        --Milton.
      
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            The island princes overbold
            Have eat our substance.               --Tennyson.
      
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            His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.
                                                  --Thackeray.
      
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   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.
      
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   {To eat humble pie}. See under {Humble}.

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

   {To eat ones 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.
        
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Eat \Eat\, v. i.
   1. To take food; to feed; especially, to take solid, in
      distinction from liquid, food; to board.
      
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            He did eat continually at the king's table. --2 Sam.
                                                  ix. 13.
      
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   2. To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef.
      
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   3. To make one's way slowly.
      
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   {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.
      
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