eat

(ēt)

1. a. To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption.
   b. To take in and absorb as food: a plant that eats insects; a cell that eats bacteria.
   c. 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.
2. To destroy, ravage, or use up by or as if by ingesting: “Covering news in the field eats money” (George F. Will).
3. To erode or corrode: waves that ate away the beach; an acid that eats the surface of a machine part.
4. To produce by or as if by eating: Moths ate holes in our sweaters.
5. Slang To absorb the cost or expense of: “You can eat your loss and switch the remaining money to other investment portfolios” (Marlys Harris).
6. Informal To bother or annoy: What's eating him?
7. Vulgar Slang To perform cunnilingus on. Often used with out.

1. a. To consume food.
   b. To have or take a meal.
2. To exercise a consuming or eroding effect: a drill that ate away at the rock; exorbitant expenses that were eating into profits.
3. To cause persistent annoyance or distress: “How long will it be before the frustration eats at you?” (Howard Kaplan).

Related Forms:

• eatˈer noun