eat

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To put food in your mouth, chew it, and swallow it.

   I usually eat breakfast at seven o'clock.

2. 2
   verb

   To use up something, especially money or resources.

   The repairs ate up all of our savings.

3. 3
   verb

   To worry or upset someone in a continuing way.

   Something is clearly eating him, but he won't say what.

4. 4
   verb

   To gradually damage or destroy something by chemical action.

   The acid slowly ate through the metal.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Eat comes from Old English and has an ancient root shared with Latin edere, “to eat.” That Latin word also lies behind such related forms as edible, comestible, edacious, and obese.

From Middle English eten, from Old English etan (“to eat”), from Proto-West Germanic *etan, from Proto-Germanic *etaną (“to eat”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁édti, from *h₁ed- (“to eat”). Cognates Cognate with Scots ait (“to eat”), Yola ayth, eight (“to eat”), North Frisian iidj, iit, ää'e, ääre, ääse (“to eat”), Saterland Frisian iete, íete (“to eat”), West Frisian ite (“to eat”), Alemannic German asse, assu, essen, ässe, ässä (“to eat”), Bavarian eisn, essn, èssn (“to eat”), Cimbrian èssan, èzzan (“to eat”), Dutch, Low German eten (“to eat”), German essen (“to eat”), Luxembourgish iessen (“…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary