I. ˈfēd verb
( fed ˈfed ; fed ; feeding ; feeds )
Etymology: Middle English feden, from Old English fēdan; akin to Old High German fuoten to feed, Old Norse fœtha, Gothic fodjan; denominative from the root of English food
transitive verb
1.
a. : to give food to : supply with nourishment : satisfy the hunger of
feed several guests
feed the chickens
also : suckle
feed a baby at the breast
b. : to convey food to the mouth of
a patient so weak he had to be fed
feeding a small child in a high chair
c. : to supply emotional, intellectual, or spiritual sustenance to
looking for what would feed the soul
a capacity for love that found nothing to feed it
d. : to convey to or into the mind of as if feeding a child
the governed can be unknowingly fed with untruths — Harrison Brown
thought the man was feeding him all kinds of nonsense
2.
a. : to furnish especially with something that is essential or that improves or enhances
feeding plants with fertilizer
the intelligence fed by reading
most adults do stop feeding their minds — R.H.Wittcoff
b. : to supply or keep supplied especially with something consumed
lakes and rivers which feed the Congo — Tom Marvel
feeding a furnace with coal
checks the items that are fed to him by the usual run of press agents — Saturday Review
c. : to pass or throw a ball or puck to (a teammate) especially for a shot at the goal
kept feeding the tall center
d. : to supply (a fellow actor) with the cue lines and situations that give greater effectiveness or significance to a role ; also : to supply (as cue lines) to an actor
e. : to provide a supply of (electrical energy)
power is usually fed to the antenna — Radio Amateur's Handbook
also : to supply electrical energy to
f.
(1) : to supply especially to an electronic circuit : send especially through an electronic circuit — used of a signal (as in radar, radio, or telegraphy)
(2) : to send (a radio or television program) by wire to a transmitting station for broadcast
3.
a. : to produce food for
the pasture fed the cows poorly
b. : to provide food for
enough wheat to feed the troops for a week
c. : to provide material for : supply (as a talent) with substance or occasion for exercise
immense learning … drawn upon to feed a fine sense of humor — R.M.Lovett
4.
a. : satisfy , gratify
fed his desire for revenge
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him — Shakespeare
b. : to give support or encouragement to
feeding false hopes
c. : aggravate , augment
feed his feelings of indignation
fed his resentment by mulling over the circumstances that aroused it
vanity fed by flattery
sensational … papers fed the public outcry with near-hysterical headlines — Time
the public acclaim fed the dictator's ego
5.
a. : to supply (the material to be operated upon) to a machine
to feed paper to a printing press
b. : to produce progressive operation upon or with (as in woodworking and metalworking machines) so that the work moves to the cutting tool or the tool to the work
6.
a. : to give as food
feed grain to chickens
b. : to furnish for use or consumption
feeding coal to a furnace
often in appropriate or convenient amounts
hurried to another hospital to borrow a machine which he hoped would feed the oxygen mechanically — Grace Reiten
— often used with out
the flatbed press fed out papers each afternoon about as fast as I could deal cards — C.C.Wertenbaker
7.
a. : to put (cattle) to graze
b. : to cause (land or crops) to be grazed
intransitive verb
1.
a.
(1) : to consume food : eat — often used with a derogatory implication when applied to a person
cattle feeding in a barn
we determined to feed only once a day at a restaurant — M.C.A.Henniker
(2) : to take a meal especially in restaurants
you can feed better here than in most other cities
b. : to satisfy the appetite : feed oneself : prey — used with on or upon or off
a vulture feeding on carrion
an animal feeding off smaller animals
c. : to become nourished, strengthened, satisfied, sustained, or augmented as if by food
convictions feed … on many things, including items of knowledge and considerations of logic — Lucius Garvin
d. : to consume or utilize feed — used of an engine or other mechanical device
a gas turbine feeding on the fuel it pumps
2. : to supply a fellow actor with the cue lines and situations that give greater effectiveness or significance to his role
3.
a. : to move in or as if in supplying something with what it uses or consumes
the river feeds into the Atlantic ocean
b. : to move into a machine or opening in order to be used or processed
bullets feed into a machine gun
oil feeds into an engine
wire feeds into a conduit
4. : to load a cartridge into the chamber of a firearm especially by the operation of the action in magazine or clip-fed arms
Synonyms:
nourish , pasture , graze : feed is a general term applicable to persons, animals, and plants and anything else given material to consume or enjoy for purposes of sustaining or continuing operation
to feed the refugees
to feed the chickens
to feed a furnace
Hugh's growing vanity was fed by the thought that Clara was interested in him — Sherwood Anderson
the dissatisfactions that feed the cause of the rebels
nourish is applicable to supplying what furnishes elements essential to growth, well-being, and building up
the humid prairie heat, so nourishing to wheat and corn, so exhausting to human beings — Willa Cather
our press has helped to nourish this legend by stretching and distorting certain of the more horrendous and eccentric features — S.L.A.Marshall
all writers are nourished by the sense of having an audience — Malcolm Crowley
pasture suggests leading cows or sheep to grassy areas or permitting them to go to such areas
pasturing cows in the meadow
graze is often synonymous with pasture
sheep grazing in a field
but may suggest free ranging over a less circumscribed area
grazing cattle on the range
II. noun
( -s )
1.
a. obsolete : the act of eating
b. : meal ; especially : a sumptuous meal
a bath and a shave and clean clothes and a good feed — I.L.Idriess
2.
a. obsolete : the right of pasture on a piece of land
b. obsolete : grazing
c. obsolete : pasture land
d. dialect England : crops
3.
a. : food especially for livestock : fodder
he needed food for his family and feed for his livestock — A.F.Gustafson
b. : a food of this kind : a mixture or preparation used for feeding livestock
c. : the amount given at each feeding
4. : the fermenting wort drawn off from yeast troughs in brewing and added to the fermenting unions to keep them full and so enable the yeast to work out
5.
a. : the motion or process of carrying forward the material to be operated upon (as cloth to the needle in a sewing machine) or of producing progressive operation upon any material or object in a machine (as in a lathe by moving the cutting tool along or in the work)
b.
(1) : the degree of feeding material to a machine
a fine or coarse feed
(2) : the advance of a cutting tool at each revolution of the tool or of the work
a feed of 1/8 inch
specifically : the thickness of the chip cut per tooth of a milling cutter
c. : material supplied to a machine or apparatus (as lubricant to an engine, water to a steam boiler, coal to a furnace, or petroleum to a distilling column)
d. : a mechanism by which the action of feeding is produced : feed motion
6. : the system or surfaces of the action of a firearm that serve to move a cartridge from its magazine or clip to the chamber or act as a surface for such motion
•
- off one's feed
III.
past of fee
IV. noun
1. : the process of feeding a television program (as to a local station) ; also : the signal being fed
2. : the act or instance of passing a ball or puck to a teammate
scored on a feed from the right wing