Entry Word: eat

Function: verb

Meaning: 1 to take in as food <having gone all day without food, we greedily ate the hamburgers>

Synonyms consume, ingest

Related Words digest, down, mouth (down), swallow; bolt, devour, gobble (up or down), gorge, gulp, wolf; chew, gnaw (at or on), lap, lick, nibble (on); relish, savor, taste; banquet, dine, feast, gormandize, pig out; dispatch, polish off; breakfast, lunch, sup; munch, snack

2 to consume or wear away gradually <the potʼs protective coating was eaten away by the acid>

Synonyms bite (at), corrode, erode, fret

Related Words break down, break up, decompose, disintegrate, dissolve; destroy, ruin, wreck

3 to take a meal <whereʼs the best place to eat in this town?> — see dine 1