EAT


Meaning of EAT in English

eat S1 W1 /iːt/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense ate /et, eɪt $ eɪt/, past participle eaten /ˈiːtn/)

[ Language: Old English ; Origin: etan ]

1 . FOOD [intransitive and transitive] to put food in your mouth and chew and swallow it:

Felix chatted cheerfully as he ate.

A small girl was eating an ice cream.

We had plenty to eat and drink.

It’s important to eat healthily when you are pregnant.

I exercise and eat right and get plenty of sleep.

Would you like something to eat?

She can eat like a horse and never put on weight.

We stopped at McDonalds to get a bite to eat.

Good eating habits are the best way of preventing infection.

ready-to-eat foods such as deli meats and cheeses

‘More cake?’ ‘No thanks, I couldn’t eat another thing.’

No chicken for me. I don’t eat meat (=I never eat meat) .

Does Rob eat fish?

2 . MEAL [intransitive and transitive] to have a meal:

Let’s eat first and then go to a movie.

They’re eating breakfast.

eat at

We could not afford to eat at Walker’s very often.

3 . eat your words to admit that what you said was wrong:

I’m going to make you eat your words.

4 . eat your heart out

a) used to say, especially humorously, that something is very good:

That’s a great drawing. Pablo Picasso eat your heart out!

b) British English to be unhappy about something or to want someone or something very much:

If you had any sense you’d forget him, but eat your heart out if you want to.

5 . eat somebody alive/eat somebody for breakfast to be very angry with someone or to defeat them completely:

You can’t tell him that – he’ll eat you alive!

6 . USE [transitive] to use a very large amount of something:

This car eats petrol.

7 . eat humble pie ( also eat crow American English ) to admit that you were wrong and say that you are sorry

8 . I’ll eat my hat used to emphasize that you think something is not true or will not happen:

If the Democrats win the election, I’ll eat my hat!

9 . have somebody eating out of your hand to have made someone very willing to believe you or do what you want:

He soon had the client eating out of his hand.

10 . eat somebody out of house and home to eat a lot of someone’s supply of food, so that they have to buy more – used humorously

11 . what’s eating somebody? spoken used to ask why someone seems annoyed or upset:

What’s eating Sally today?

12 . I could eat a horse spoken used to say you are very hungry

13 . I/we won’t eat you spoken used to tell someone that you are not angry with them and they need not be frightened

14 . you are what you eat used to say that you will be healthy if the food you eat is healthy

⇨ ↑ eats , ⇨ have your cake and eat it at ↑ cake 1 (6)

• • •

COLLOCATIONS

■ nouns

▪ eat breakfast/lunch/dinner etc

What time do you usually eat lunch?

■ adverbs

▪ eat well (=have enough food, or have good food)

The people work hard, but they eat well.

▪ eat healthily/sensibly (=eat food that will keep you healthy)

If you eat healthily and exercise regularly, you’ll look and feel a lot better.

▪ eat properly British English , eat right American English (=eat food that will keep you healthy)

He hadn’t been eating properly and was drinking far too much.

▪ eat hungrily (=eat a lot quickly, because you are very hungry)

The children ate hungrily, devouring everything on their plate.

▪ eat sparingly (=eat very little)

Carter joined us for lunch, but ate sparingly, as he always did.

■ phrases

▪ have something/nothing to eat (=eat something/nothing)

We’ll leave after we’ve had something to eat.

▪ have enough/plenty etc to eat

Have you had enough to eat?

▪ have little to eat (=not have enough food)

The refugees had very little to eat and no clean water.

▪ find something to eat

I got dressed and went downstairs to find something to eat.

▪ get something to eat (=prepare or buy some food)

I’m sure you can get something to eat on the train.

▪ sb’s eating habits (=the kinds of things they eat or drink regularly)

The doctor asked me about my eating habits and how much I smoked.

▪ an eating disorder (=a mental illness which causes you to eat too much or too little)

She described her battle with the eating disorder bulimia.

▪ a bite to eat (=a small meal)

We should have time for a bite to eat before we set out.

▪ eat like a horse (=eat a lot)

She eats like a horse but never puts on any weight!

▪ eat like a bird (=eat very little)

Ever since she was a child, Jan had always eaten like a bird.

▪ I couldn’t eat another thing spoken (=used to say that you are completely full)

Thanks, that was lovely, but I couldn’t eat another thing.

• • •

THESAURUS

▪ eat to put food in your mouth and chew and swallow it:

Experts recommend eating plenty of fruit and vegetables.

▪ have to eat a particular food:

‘What do you usually have for breakfast?’ ‘I usually just have coffee and toast.’

|

We had the set meal.

▪ feed on something to eat a particular kind of food – used when talking about animals:

Foxes feed on a wide range of foods including mice, birds, insects, and fruit.

▪ consume written to eat or drink something – used especially in scientific or technical contexts:

Babies consume large amounts relative to their body weight.

▪ munch (on) something to eat something with big continuous movements of your mouth, especially when you are enjoying your food:

He was munching on an apple.

|

They were sitting on a bench munching their sandwiches.

▪ nibble (on) something to eat something by biting off very small pieces:

If you want a healthy snack, why not just nibble on a carrot?

▪ pick at something to eat only a small amount of your food because you are not hungry or do not like the food:

Lisa was so upset that she could only pick at her food.

▪ stuff/gorge yourself to eat so much food that you cannot eat anything else:

He’s always stuffing himself with cakes.

|

We gorged ourselves on my mother’s delicious apple tart.

▪ slurp to eat soup, ↑ noodle s etc with a noisy sucking sound:

In England it’s considered rude to slurp your soup, but in some countries it’s seen as a sign of enjoyment.

■ to eat something quickly

▪ gobble something up/down informal to eat something very quickly, especially because you like it very much or you are greedy:

You’ve gobbled up all the ice-cream!

|

The children gobbled it down in no time.

▪ wolf something down informal to eat food quickly, especially because you are very hungry or in a hurry:

The boy wolfed down everything on his plate and asked for more.

▪ bolt something down British English to eat food very quickly, especially because you are in a hurry:

He bolted down his breakfast and was out of the door within 5 minutes.

|

You shouldn’t bolt your food down like that.

▪ devour /dɪˈvaʊə $ -ˈvaʊr/ especially written to eat all of something quickly because you are very hungry:

In a very short time, the snake had devoured the whole animal.

■ to eat less food or stop eating

▪ be on a diet to be eating less or different food than normal in order to become thinner:

No cake thanks – I’m on a diet.

▪ fast to not eat for a period of time, often for religious reasons:

Muslim people fast during the month of Ramadan.

eat something ↔ away phrasal verb

to gradually remove or destroy something SYN erode :

The stones are being eaten away by pollution.

eat away at something/somebody phrasal verb

1 . to gradually remove or reduce the amount of something:

His gambling was eating away at their income.

2 . to make someone feel very worried over a long period of time:

The thought of mother alone like that was eating away at her.

eat in phrasal verb

to eat at home instead of in a restaurant

eat into something phrasal verb

1 . to gradually reduce the amount of time, money etc that is available:

John’s university fees have been eating into our savings.

2 . to gradually damage or destroy something:

Acid eats into the metal, damaging its surface.

eat out phrasal verb

to eat in a restaurant instead of at home:

Do you eat out a lot?

eat up phrasal verb

1 . to eat all of something:

Come on, eat up, there’s a good girl.

eat something ↔ up

She’s made a cake and wants us to help eat it up.

2 . eat something ↔ up informal to use a lot of something, especially until there is none left:

Big cars just eat up money.

3 . be eaten up with/by jealousy/anger/curiosity etc to be very jealous, angry etc, so that you cannot think about anything else

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.