feed

feed  (fd)

v. fed (fd), feed·ing, feeds

v.tr.

1.

a. To give food to; supply with nourishment: feed the children.

b. To provide as food or nourishment: fed fish to the cat.

2.

a. To serve as food for: The turkey is large enough to feed a dozen.

b. To produce food for: The valley feeds an entire county.

3.

a. To provide for consumption, utilization, or operation: feed logs to a fire; feed data into a computer.

b. To supply with something essential for growth, maintenance, or operation: Melting snow feeds the reservoirs.

c. To distribute (a local radio or television broadcast) to a larger audience or group of receivers by way of a network or satellite.

4.

a. To minister to; gratify: fed their appetite for the morbid.

b. To support or promote; encourage: His unexplained absences fed our suspicions.

5. To supply as a cue: feed lines to an actor.

6. Sports To pass a ball or puck to (a teammate), especially to set up a scoring chance.

v.intr.

1. To eat: pigs feeding at a trough.

2. To be nourished or supported: an ego that feeds on flattery.

3.

a. To move steadily, as into a machine for processing.

b. To be channeled; flow: This road feeds into the freeway.

n.

1.

a. Food for animals or birds.

b. The amount of such food given at one time.

2. Informal A meal, especially a large one.

3. The act of eating.

4.

a. Material or an amount of material supplied, as to a machine or furnace.

b. The act of supplying such material.

5.

a. An apparatus that supplies material to a machine.

b. The aperture through which such material enters a machine.

6.

a. The transmission or conveyance of a local radio or television program, as by satellite, on the Internet, or by broadcast over a network of stations.

b. A program or signal so transmitted or conveyed.

7. Sports A pass of a ball or puck, especially to set up a scoring chance.

Idiom:

off (one's) feed

Suffering a lack of appetite; sick: The dog is off its feed this week.

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[Middle English feden, from Old English fdan; see p- in Indo-European roots.]

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feed

Verb

[feeding, fed]

1. to give food to (a person or an animal)

2. to give (something) as food: people feeding bread to their cattle

3. to eat food: red squirrel feed in the pines

4. to supply or prepare food for

5. to provide what is needed for the continued existence, operation, or growth of: illustrations which will feed an older child's imagination, pools fed by waterfalls

Noun

1. the act of feeding

2. food, esp. that given to animals or babies

3. Brit, Austral & NZ informal a meal [Old English fēdan]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	feed - food for domestic livestock provender food, nutrient - any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue blood meal - the dried and powdered blood of animals corn gluten feed - a feed consisting primarily of corn gluten cattle cake - a concentrated feed for cattle; processed in the form of blocks or cakes creep feed - feed given to young animals isolated in a creep fodder - coarse food (especially for livestock) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop feed grain - grain grown for cattle feed ensilage, silage - fodder harvested while green and kept succulent by partial fermentation as in a silo oil cake - mass of e.g. linseed or cottonseed or soybean from which the oil has been pressed; used as food for livestock pigswill, pigwash, slop, slops, swill - wet feed (especially for pigs) consisting of mostly kitchen waste mixed with water or skimmed or sour milk mash - mixture of ground animal feeds cud, rechewed food - food of a ruminant regurgitated to be chewed again bird feed, bird food, birdseed - food given to birds; usually mixed seeds pet food, pet-food, petfood - food prepared for animal pets mast - nuts of forest trees used as feed for swine fish meal - ground dried fish used as fertilizer and as feed for domestic livestock
Verb	1.	feed - provide as food; "Feed the guests the nuts" cater, ply, provide, supply - give what is desired or needed, especially support, food or sustenance; "The hostess provided lunch for all the guests"
	2.	feed - give food to; "Feed the starving children in India"; "don't give the child this tough meat" give dine - give dinner to; host for dinner; "I'm wining and dining my friends" scavenge - feed on carrion or refuse; "hyenas scavenge" fodder - give fodder (to domesticated animals) swill, slop - feed pigs regurgitate - feed through the beak by regurgitating previously swallowed food; "many birds feed their young by regurgitating what they have swallowed and carried to the nest" corn - feed (cattle) with corn malnourish, undernourish - provide with insufficient quality or quantity of nourishment; "The stunted growth of these children shows that they are undernourished" overfeed - feed excessively spoonfeed - feed with a spoon force-feed - feed someone who will not or cannot eat cater, ply, provide, supply - give what is desired or needed, especially support, food or sustenance; "The hostess provided lunch for all the guests" lunch - provide a midday meal for; "She lunched us well" breakfast - provide breakfast for breastfeed, give suck, lactate, wet-nurse, suckle, nurse, suck - give suck to; "The wetnurse suckled the infant"; "You cannot nurse your baby in public in some places" bottlefeed - feed (infants) with a bottle inject - feed intravenously aliment, nutrify, nourish - give nourishment to range - let eat; "range the animals in the prairie" pasture, graze, crop - let feed in a field or pasture or meadow famish, starve - deprive of food; "They starved the prisoners"
	3.	feed - feed into; supply; "Her success feeds her vanity" furnish, provide, supply, render - give something useful or necessary to; "We provided the room with an electrical heater"
	4.	feed - introduce continuously; "feed carrots into a food processor" feed in put in, stick in, inclose, insert, introduce, enclose - introduce; "Insert your ticket here"
	5.	feed - support or promote; "His admiration fed her vanity" encourage, promote, further, boost, advance - contribute to the progress or growth of; "I am promoting the use of computers in the classroom"
	6.	feed - take in food; used of animals only; "This dog doesn't eat certain kinds of meat"; "What do whales eat?" eat ingest, consume, have, take in, take - serve oneself to, or consume regularly; "Have another bowl of chicken soup!"; "I don't take sugar in my coffee" eat - take in solid food; "She was eating a banana"; "What did you eat for dinner last night?" forage - wander and feed; "The animals forage in the woods" raven - feed greedily; "The lions ravened the bodies" suckle - suck milk from the mother's breasts; "the infant was suckling happily" graze, pasture, browse, crop, range - feed as in a meadow or pasture; "the herd was grazing"
	7.	feed - serve as food for; be the food for; "This dish feeds six" cater, ply, provide, supply - give what is desired or needed, especially support, food or sustenance; "The hostess provided lunch for all the guests"
	8.	feed - move along, of liquids; "Water flowed into the cave"; "the Missouri feeds into the Mississippi" course, flow, run flush - flow freely; "The garbage flushed down the river" jet, gush - issue in a jet; come out in a jet; stream or spring forth; "Water jetted forth"; "flames were jetting out of the building" move - move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion; "He moved his hand slightly to the right" tide, surge - rise or move forward; "surging waves" circulate - move through a space, circuit or system, returning to the starting point; "Blood circulates in my veins"; "The air here does not circulate" eddy, purl, whirlpool, swirl, whirl - flow in a circular current, of liquids waste, run off - run off as waste; "The water wastes back into the ocean" run down - move downward; "The water ran down" pour - flow in a spurt; "Water poured all over the floor" spill, run out - flow, run or fall out and become lost; "The milk spilled across the floor"; "The wine spilled onto the table" well out, stream - flow freely and abundantly; "Tears streamed down her face" dribble, trickle, filter - run or flow slowly, as in drops or in an unsteady stream; "water trickled onto the lawn from the broken hose"; "reports began to dribble in" drain, run out - flow off gradually; "The rain water drains into this big vat" ooze, seep - pass gradually or leak through or as if through small openings gutter - flow in small streams; "Tears guttered down her face"
	9.	feed - profit from in an exploitatory manner; "He feeds on her insecurity" prey exploit, work - use or manipulate to one's advantage; "He exploit the new taxation system"; "She knows how to work the system"; "he works his parents for sympathy"
	10.	feed - gratify; "feed one's eyes on a gorgeous view" feast regale, treat - provide with choice or abundant food or drink; "Don't worry about the expensive wine--I'm treating"; "She treated her houseguests with good food every night"
	11.	feed - provide with fertilizers or add nutrients to; "We should fertilize soil if we want to grow healthy plants" fertilize, fertilise farming, husbandry, agriculture - the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock enrich - make better or improve in quality; "The experience enriched her understanding"; "enriched foods" nitrify - treat (soil) with nitrates dung - fertilize or dress with dung; "you must dung the land" topdress - scatter manure or fertilizer over (land)

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feed

verb 1. cater for, provide for, nourish, provide with food, supply, sustain, nurture, cook for, wine and dine, victual, provision

verb 2. graze, eat, browse, pasture

verb 3. eat, drink milk, take nourishment

verb 4. supply, take, send, carry, convey, impart

verb 5. disclose, give, tell, reveal, supply, communicate, pass on, impart, divulge, make known

verb 6. encourage, boost, fuel, strengthen, foster, minister to, bolster, fortify, augment, make stronger

noun 7. food, fodder, forage, silage, provender, pasturage

noun 8. (Informal) meal, spread (informal) dinner, lunch, tea, breakfast, feast, supper, tuck-in (informal) nosh (slang) repast, nosh-up Brit. (slang)

feed on something live on, depend on, devour, exist on, partake of, subsist on

Translations

feed [fiːd] n (gen), [of baby] → comida; [of animal] → pienso;

(on printer) → dispositivo de alimentación

vt [pp, pt fed] (gen) → alimentar;

(BRIT) (= breastfeed); dar el pecho a; [animal, baby] → dar de comer a

vi [baby, animal] → comer

feed back vt [+ results] → pasar

feed in vt (COMPUT) → introducir

feed into vt [+ data, information] → suministrar a;

to feed sth into a machine → introducir algo en una máquina

feed on vt fus → alimentarse de

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feed [fiːd] n [of baby] → tétée f [of animal]; nourriture f, pâture f;

(on printer) → mécanisme m d'alimentation

vt [fed , pt , pp ] [fɛd] [+ person] → nourrir;

(Brit) [+ baby] (= breastfeed); allaiter: (with bottle) → donner le biberon à [+ horse etc]; donner à manger à [+ machine]; alimenter [+ data etc];

to feed sth into → enregistrer qch dans

feed back vt [+ results] → donner en retour

feed on vt fus → se nourrir de

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feed [fiːd] [fed , pt, pp ] n → Mahlzeit f;

(of animal) → Fütterung f;

(on printer) → Papiervorschub m

vt → füttern;

(family etc) → ernähren;

(machine) → versorgen;

to feed sth into sth → etw in etw acc einfüllen or eingeben;

(data, information) → etw in etw acc eingeben;

to feed material into sth → Material in etw acc eingeben

feed back feed vt → zurückleiten

feed on feed vt fus → sich nähren von

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feed [fiːd] n [of baby] → pappa

vt [pt fed, pp ] [fɛd] → nutrire [+ horse etc]; dare da mangiare a [+ fire, machine]; alimentare

vi [baby, animal] → mangiare;

to feed material into sth → introdurre materiale in qc;

to feed data/information into sth → inserire dati/informazioni in qc

feed back vt [+ results] → riferire

feed on vt fus → nutrirsi di