feed
//fiːd//
Forms
- present (v1)
- feed
- past (v2)
- fed
- past participle (v3)
- fed
- present participle
- feeding
- 3rd person singular
- feeds
- Plural
- feeds
Definitions
1.To give (someone or something) food to eat.
- Feed the dog every evening.
2.To eat (usually of animals).
- Spiders feed on gnats and flies.
- If we have time we might go on to Brighton, feed at the 'Ship,' and come back in the cool.
- While feeding, the basking shark swims at about two knots per hour, and this enables it to eat and breathe in the same motion.
3.To give (someone or something) to (someone or something else) as food.
- Feed the fish to the dolphins.
- Don't feed him too much; he's still a baby.
- DR SIMEON: I said I'd feed you. I didn't say who to.
4.To give to a machine to be processed.
- Feed the paper gently into the document shredder.
1.Food given to (especially herbivorous) non-human animals.
- They sell feed, riding helmets, and everything else for horses.
2.Something supplied continuously.
3.The part of a machine that supplies the material to be operated upon.
4.The forward motion of the material fed into a machine.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1234
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English feden, from Old English fēdan (“to feed”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōdijan, from Proto-Germanic *fōdijaną (“to feed”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to guard, graze, feed”).