eat up

verb

ate up; eaten up; eating up; eats up

transitive verb

—used to tell someone to start or continue eating

Eat up! Your dinner is getting cold.

Word History

First Known Use

1942, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of eat up was in 1942

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Eat up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eat%20up. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster

Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the Day

quibble

Listen to the pronunciation of quibble

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Using Bullet Points ( • )

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

Popular in Wordplay

Our Best Historical Slang Terms

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Better Ways to Say 'This Sucks'

8 Words with Fascinating Histories

Popular

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Our Best Historical Slang Terms

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)