Meanings
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1
noun
a container or device that supplies food to people or animals
We filled the bird feeder with sunflower seeds before the snow arrived.
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2
noun
a person or animal that eats, especially in a specified way or from a specified source
As a teenager he was a hearty feeder but remained remarkably thin.
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3
noun
a mechanism, route, or smaller system that supplies material, traffic, or power to a larger one
The printer's automatic feeder can hold fifty sheets of paper.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Middle English feedere, an agent noun formed from feed + -er. Its meaning expanded from a person or animal that feeds to devices and subsidiary systems that supply something continuously.