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[feed] /fid/

verb (used with object), fed, feeding.
1.
to give food to; supply with nourishment:
to feed a child.
2.
to yield or serve as food for:
This land has fed 10 generations.
3.
to provide as food.
4.
to furnish for consumption.
5.
to satisfy; minister to; gratify:
Poetry feeds the imagination.
6.
to supply for maintenance or operation, as to a machine:
to feed paper into a photocopier.
7.
to provide with the necessary materials for development, maintenance, or operation:
to feed a printing press with paper.
8.
to use (land) as pasture.
9.
Theater Informal.

10.
Radio and Television. to distribute (a local broadcast) via satellite or network.
verb (used without object), fed, feeding.
11.
(especially of animals) to take food; eat:
cows feeding in a meadow; to feed well.
12.
to be nourished or gratified; subsist:
to feed on grass; to feed on thoughts of revenge.
noun
13.
food, especially for farm animals, as cattle, horses or chickens.
14.
an allowance, portion, or supply of such food.
15.
Informal. a meal, especially a lavish one.
16.
the act of feeding.
17.
the act or process of feeding a furnace, machine, etc.
18.
the material, or the amount of it, so fed or supplied.
19.
a feeding mechanism.
20.
Electricity. (def 10).
21.
Theater Informal.

22.
a local television broadcast distributed by satellite or network to a much wider audience, especially nationwide or international.
23.
Digital Technology.

Idioms
24.
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.
25.
off one’s feed, Slang.

/fiːd/
verb (mainly transitive) feeds, feeding, fed (fɛd)
1.
to give food to: to feed the cat
2.
to give as food: to feed meat to the cat
3.
(intransitive) to eat food: the horses feed at noon
4.
to provide food for: these supplies can feed 10 million people
5.
to provide what is necessary for the existence or development of: to feed one’s imagination
6.
to gratify; satisfy: to feed one’s eyes on a beautiful sight
7.
(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
8.
to use (land) as grazing
9.
(theatre, informal) to cue (an actor, esp a comedian) with lines or actions
10.
(sport) to pass a ball to (a team-mate)
11.
(electronics) to introduce (electrical energy) into a circuit, esp by means of a feeder
12.
(also intransitive; foll by on or upon) to eat or cause to eat
noun
13.
the act or an instance of feeding
14.
food, esp that of animals or babies
15.
the process of supplying a machine or furnace with a material or fuel
16.
the quantity of material or fuel so supplied
17.
(computing) a facility allowing web users to receive news headlines and updates on their browser from a website as soon as they are published
18.
the rate of advance of a cutting tool in a lathe, drill, etc
19.
a mechanism that supplies material or fuel or controls the rate of advance of a cutting tool
20.
(theatre, informal) a performer, esp a straight man, who provides cues
21.
(informal) a meal
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.

noun

verb

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

Related Terms

chicken feed, off one’s feed