eat ( t)v. ate (  t), eat·en (t n), eat·ing, eats v.tr. 1. a. To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption. b. To take in and absorb as food: a plant that eats insects; a cell that eats bacteria. c. To include habitually or by preference in one's diet: a bird that eats insects, fruit, and seeds; stopped eating red meat on advice from her doctor. 2. To destroy, ravage, or use up by or as if by ingesting: "Covering news in the field eats money" (George F. Will). 3. To erode or corrode: waves that ate away the beach; an acid that eats the surface of a machine part. 4. To produce by or as if by eating: Moths ate holes in our sweaters. 5. Slang To absorb the cost or expense of: "You can eat your loss and switch the remaining money to other investment portfolios" (Marlys Harris). 6. Informal To bother or annoy: What's eating him? 7. Vulgar Slang To perform cunnilingus on. Often used with out. v.intr. Phrasal Verb: 1. a. To consume food. b. To have or take a meal. 2. To exercise a consuming or eroding effect: a drill that ate away at the rock; exorbitant expenses that were eating into profits. 3. To cause persistent annoyance or distress: "How long will it be before the frustration eats at you?" (Howard Kaplan). eat up Slang Idioms: 1. To receive or enjoy enthusiastically or avidly: She really eats up the publicity. 2. To believe without question: He'll eat up whatever the broker tells him. eat crow To be forced to accept a humiliating defeat. eat (one's) heart out 1. To feel bitter anguish or grief. 2. To be consumed by jealousy. eat (one's) words To retract something that one has said. eat out of (someone's) hand To be manipulated or dominated by another. eat (someone) alive Slang To overwhelm or defeat thoroughly: an inexperienced manager who was eaten alive in a competitive corporate environment. [Middle English eten, from Old English etan; see ed- in Indo-European roots.] eat er n.Synonyms: eat, consume, devour, ingest These verbs mean to take food into the body by the mouth: ate a hearty dinner; greedily consumed the sandwich; hyenas devouring their prey; whales ingesting krill. |
eat up
vb (adverb, mainly tr)
1. (also intr) to eat or consume entirely: often used as an exhortation to children
2. Informal to listen to with enthusiasm or appreciation the audience ate up the speaker's every word
3. (often passive) Informal to affect grossly she was eaten up by jealousy
4. Informal to travel (a distance) quickly we just ate up the miles
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Verb | 1. | eat up - finish eating all the food on one's plate or on the table; "She polished off the remaining potatoes" eat - take in solid food; "She was eating a banana"; "What did you eat for dinner last night?" |
| 2. | eat up - use up (resources or materials); "this car consumes a lot of gas"; "We exhausted our savings"; "They run through 20 bottles of wine a week" run out - exhaust the supply of; "We ran out of time just as the discussion was getting interesting" drain - deplete of resources; "The exercise class drains me of energy" spend - spend completely; "I spend my pocket money in two days" | |
| 3. | eat up - enclose or envelop completely, as if by swallowing; "The huge waves swallowed the small boat and it sank shortly thereafter" |
Translations
? eat up
vt sep
(lit) → aufessen; (animal) → auffressen
(fig: = use up, consume) → verbrauchen, fressen (inf); this car eats up the miles → der Wagen gibt ganz schön was her (inf)
vi → aufessen
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