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to give food to; supply with nourishment:
to feed a child.
to yield or serve as food for:
This land has fed 10 generations.
to provide as food.
to furnish for consumption.
to satisfy; minister to; gratify:
Poetry feeds the imagination.
to supply for maintenance or operation, as to a machine:
to feed paper into a photocopier.
to provide with the necessary materials for development, maintenance, or operation:
to feed a printing press with paper.
to use (land) as pasture.
Theater Informal.

to supply (an actor, especially a comedian) with lines or action, the responses to which are expected to elicit laughter.
to provide cues to (an actor).
Chiefly British. to prompt:
Stand in the wings and feed them their lines.

Radio and Television. to distribute (a local broadcast) via satellite or network.
(especially of animals) to take food; eat:
cows feeding in a meadow; to feed well.
to be nourished or gratified; subsist:
to feed on grass; to feed on thoughts of revenge.
food, especially for farm animals, as cattle, horses or chickens.
an allowance, portion, or supply of such food.
Informal. a meal, especially a lavish one.
the act of feeding.
the act or process of feeding a furnace, machine, etc.
the material, or the amount of it, so fed or supplied.
a feeding mechanism.
Electricity. feeder (def 10).
Theater Informal.

a line spoken by one actor, the response to which by another actor is expected to cause laughter.
an actor, especially a straight man, who provides such lines.

a local television broadcast distributed by satellite or network to a much wider audience, especially nationwide or international.
Digital Technology.

a website or application that publishes updates from social-media or news-collection websites in reverse chronological order:
I follow all of the latest celebrity gossip in my Twitter feed.
an XML-based web document that is updated automatically at predetermined intervals and includes descriptive titles or short descriptions and links to recent pages on a website:
Subscribe to news feeds to get the latest news from around the world.

chain feed, to pass (work) successively into a machine in such a manner that each new piece is held in place by or connected to the one before.
off one’s feed, Slang.

reluctant to eat; without appetite.
dejected; sad.
not well; ill.

a charge or payment for professional services:
a doctor’s fee.
a sum paid or charged for a privilege:
an admission fee.
a charge allowed by law for the service of a public officer.
Law.

an estate of inheritance in land, either absolute and without limitation to any particular class of heirs (fee simple) or limited to a particular class of heirs (fee tail)
an inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of the performing of certain services.
a territory held in fee.

a gratuity; tip.
to give a fee to.
Chiefly Scot. to hire; employ.
verb (mainly transitive) feeds, feeding, fed (fɛd)
to give food to: to feed the cat
to give as food: to feed meat to the cat
(intransitive) to eat food: the horses feed at noon
to provide food for: these supplies can feed 10 million people
to provide what is necessary for the existence or development of: to feed one’s imagination
to gratify; satisfy: to feed one’s eyes on a beautiful sight
(also intransitive) to supply (a machine, furnace, etc) with (the necessary materials or fuel) for its operation, or (of such materials) to flow or move forwards into a machine, etc
to use (land) as grazing
(theatre, informal) to cue (an actor, esp a comedian) with lines or actions
(sport) to pass a ball to (a team-mate)
(electronics) to introduce (electrical energy) into a circuit, esp by means of a feeder
(also intransitive; foll by on or upon) to eat or cause to eat
noun
the act or an instance of feeding
food, esp that of animals or babies
the process of supplying a machine or furnace with a material or fuel
the quantity of material or fuel so supplied
(computing) a facility allowing web users to receive news headlines and updates on their browser from a website as soon as they are published
the rate of advance of a cutting tool in a lathe, drill, etc
a mechanism that supplies material or fuel or controls the rate of advance of a cutting tool
(theatre, informal) a performer, esp a straight man, who provides cues
(informal) a meal
noun
a payment asked by professional people or public servants for their services: a doctor’s fee, school fees
a charge made for a privilege: an entrance fee
(property law)

an interest in land capable of being inherited See fee simple, fee tail
the land held in fee

(in feudal Europe) the land granted by a lord to his vassal
an obsolete word for a gratuity
in fee

(law) (of land) in absolute ownership
(archaic) in complete subjection

verb fees, feeing, feed
(rare) to give a fee to
(mainly Scot) to hire for a fee
v.

Old English fedan “nourish, feed, sustain, foster,” from Proto-Germanic *fodjan (cf. Old Saxon fodjan, Old Frisian feda, Dutch voeden, Old High German fuotan, Old Norse foeða, Gothic fodjan “to feed”), from PIE *pa- “to protect, feed” (see food). Feeding frenzy is from 1989, metaphoric extension of a phrase that had been used of sharks since 1950s.
n.

“action of feeding,” 1570s, from feed (v.). Meaning “food for animals” is first attested 1580s. Of machinery, from 1892.
n.

late 13c., from Old French fieu, fief “fief, possession, holding, domain; feudal duties, payment,” from Medieval Latin feodum “land or other property whose use is granted in return for service,” widely said to be from Frankish *fehu-od “payment-estate,” or a similar Germanic compound, in which the first element is cognate with Old English feoh “money, movable property, cattle” (also German Vieh “cattle,” Gothic faihu “money, fortune”), from PIE *peku- “cattle” (cf. Sanskrit pasu, Lithuanian pekus “cattle;” Latin pecu “cattle,” pecunia “money, property”); second element similar to Old English ead “wealth.”

OED rejects this, and suggests a simple adaptation of Germanic fehu, leaving the Medieval Latin -d- unexplained. Sense of “payment for services” first recorded late 14c. Fee-simple is “absolute ownership,” as opposed to fee-tail “entailed ownership,” inheritance limited to some particular class of heirs (second element from Old French taillir “to cut, to limit”).

noun

A meal: Stop by for a feed, anytime (1830+)
Money (1900+)
Contributions of opinion, advice, etc; input: They put their feed into the project (1990s+)

verb

To board; take one’s meals; eat (1895+)

Related Terms

chicken feed, off one’s feed

1. data feed.
2. Rich Site Summary.

feed one’s face
feed someone a line
feed the kitty