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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