eat

He's eating an apple. / Don't disturb me now; can't you see that I'm eating?

But meate commendeth vs not to God: for neither if we eate, are we the better: neither if wee eate not, are we the woꝛſe.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 8:8, column 2:

At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw[…]that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.

1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

Shepard: Everyone on this station is chafing under Anoleis' extortion. You might end up a hero.
Lorik Qui'in: My employers rely on the goodwill of the Executive Board to work here.
Wrex: If these "executives" don't blame Anoleis for provoking this, they're fools. You should eat them.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Noveria:

(transitive, intransitive) To consume (something solid or semi-solid, usually food) by putting it into the mouth and swallowing it.

What time do we eat this evening?

I eat in the kitchen.
Audio (US): (file)

2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

To ingest; to be ingested.
(intransitive) To consume a meal.

To ingest; to be ingested.
To consume a meal.

It's a soup that eats like a meal.

I don't know any quarter in England where you get such undeniable mutton—mutton that eats like mutton, instead of the nasty watery, stringy, turnipy stuff, neither mutton nor lamb, that other countries are inundated with.

1852, The New Monthly Magazine, page 310:

[D]ish him with thlitheth of orangeth, barberrieth, grapeth, goothberrieth, and butter; and you will find that he eaths deliciouthly either with farced pain or gammon pain.

1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “In Which the Minstrelsy Proceeds”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 73:

[D]ish him [the fish] with slices of oranges, barberries, grapes, gooseberries, and butter; and you will find that he eats deliriously either with farced pain or gammon pain.

To ingest; to be ingested.
(intransitive, ergative) To be eaten.

(copulative, intransitive) To have a particular quality of diet; to be well-fed or underfed (typically as "eat healthy" or "eat good").

This project is eating up all the money.

His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.

1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, →OCLC:

(transitive, often with up) To destroy, consume, or use up.

To use up.
To destroy, consume, or use up.

A bigger problem, however, is that if you catch/eat an exception and do nothing with it, you are very likely introducing subtle bugs in your application that will be next to impossible to track down.

2005, Wallace B. McClure, Gregory A. Beamer, John J. Croft IV, Professional ADO.NET 2, page 246:

(transitive, programming, informal) To consume (an exception, an event, etc.) so that other parts of the program do not receive it.

The VHS recorder just ate the tape and won't spit it out.

John is late for the meeting because the photocopier ate his report.

No! There's a problem with the cassette player. Don't press fast forward or it eats the tape!

1991, Shane Black, The Last Boy Scout (movie)

(transitive, informal, of a device) To damage, destroy, or fail to eject a removable part or an inserted object.

The video game in the corner just ate my quarter.

Hey! This stupid [soda vending] machine ate my quarter.

(transitive, informal, of a vending machine or similar device) To consume money (or other instruments of value, such as a token) deposited or inserted by a user, while failing to either provide the intended product or service or return the payment.

What's eating you?

(transitive, informal) To cause (someone) to worry.

I have to have him in court tomorrow, if he doesn't show up, I forfeit the bond and I have to eat the $300,000.

1988, George Gallo, Midnight Run (movie)

The server made an error when taking the order. The bartender prepared two scorpion bowls. When the error was realized the bartender was faced with having to "eat" the extra scorpion bowl […]

1999, Ronald S. Beitman, Liquor Liability: A Primer for Winning Your Case, page 27:

When they were doing it with the valuation professionals, they were billing the client, but the valuation professional in a lot of those early cases had to eat the cost of showing the auditor how the auditors' test model was incorrect.

2011, Lorenzo Carver, Venture Capital Valuation:

(transitive, business) To take the loss in a transaction.

I risk my whole future, the hatred of the cops and Eddie Mars' gang. I dodge bullets and eat saps.

1944, William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, The Big Sleep (screenplay)

And, of course, there was Brian Rusk, who had eaten a bullet at the ripe old age of eleven.

Friends are only necessary in the ghastly country, where you have to have them, along with rubber boots and a barometer and secateurs, to put off bucolic idiocy, a wet brain, or eating the 12-bore.

1997, A. A. Gill, "Diary" (in The Spectator, 1 November 1997)

Mike had been to other calls where someone had eaten a gun. He knew to expect teeth embedded in the ceiling and brains dripping off it.

2012, Kaya McLaren, How I Came to Sparkle Again: A Novel, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN:

The animal was sweating and scared and MacAdams was surprised when they finished up without either of them eating a kick.

2017, Edward W. Robertson, Stardust, Edward W. Robertson:

There was a resounding smacking noise and Georgy was sure Philip had just eaten a fist.

2018, Daniel Tomazic, Of Bullies and Men: Young Adult Fiction, →ISBN, page 18:

(transitive, slang) To be injured or killed by (something such as a firearm or its projectile), especially in the mouth.

The acid rain ate away the statue.  The strong acid eats through the metal.

(transitive, intransitive) To corrode or erode.

Eat me!

I ate his ass.

Yeah, eat that dick / eat that pussy.

(transitive, slang) To perform oral sex (on a person or body part).

To perform oral sex (on a person or body part).

You ate that performance!

This song eats!

Lorde and Charli XCX confronted each other via song like some kind of alt-pop musical-theater number, and it ate. “The girl, so confusing version with lorde,” like all the best pop music, features multiple moments that burrow into your brain and refuse to leave, giving you no other choice but to simply relisten to the track.

2024 June 21, Jason P. Frank, “Who Else Needs to Work It Out on a Remix?”, in Vulture:

(stative, slang) To be very good; to rule, to slay.

en-verb

eat (third-person singular simple present eats, present participle eating, simple past ate or (dialectal) et or (obsolete) eat, past participle eaten or (dialectal) etten)

eats (present singular third-person)
eating (participle present)
ate (past)
et (dialectal past)
eat (obsolete past)
eaten (participle past)
etten (dialectal participle past)
eat (infinitive)

could eat the arse out of a low flying duck

could eat the crotch out of a low flying duck

could eat the crutch from a low flying duck

sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you

the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet

the proof of the pudding is in the eating

æde

used for animals and ill-mannered people

vreten

used for animals; vulgar when applied to people

தின்

used for animals, somewhat impolite when applied to people

From Middle English eten, from Old English etan (“to eat”), from Proto-West Germanic *etan, from Proto-Germanic *etaną (“to eat”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁édti, from *h₁ed- (“to eat”).


eat

Eating a Picnic creates a flurry of wafer pieces, flying peanuts and chocolate crumbs. […] As well as being messy, Picnic happens to be a big eat – something of a consumption challenge in fact.

2011, William Chitty, Nigel Barker, Michael Valos, Integrated Marketing Communications, page 167:

(colloquial) Something to be eaten; a meal; a food item.

From Middle English ete, ate, æte, from Old English ǣt (“food, eating”), from Proto-West Germanic *āt, from Proto-Germanic *ētą (“food, thing to eat”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”). Cognate with North Frisian ad, it (“food”), German Aas (“carrion”), Norwegian åt, Icelandic át (“food”).