1. noun | 2. verb

1
eat /i:t/ noun. Now colloq. OE.
ORIGIN: Old English æt = Old Frisian ēt, Old Saxon āt, Old High German āȥ; in mod. use from the verb.
1.Food. Now only in pl., things to eat. OE.
J. P. Donleavy On the table were eats the like of which…have never been seen on this isle.
2.An act of eating, a meal. OE.
J. Frame Goodbye and thank you for the little eat.

2
eat /i:t/ verb. Pa. t. ate /eɪt, ɛt/ , (obsolete exc. Scot. & dial.) eat. Pa. pple eaten /ˈi:t(ə)n/, eat. OE.
ORIGIN: Old English etan = Old Frisian eta, Old Saxon etan (Du eten), Old High German eȥȥan ( German essen), Old Norse eta, Gothic itan, from Germanic, from Indo-European base of Latin edere, Greek edein.
IConsume for nutriment.
1.verb trans. Have as food; take into the mouth, masticate if necessary, and swallow (solid food; also fluid, e.g. soup, for which a spoon is used). OE. b.fig. Submit to, accept meekly (an insult, an injury, etc.). LME–E17. c. fig. Receive (esp. a stage performance) with vigorous enjoyment; acclaim. (Foll. by up.) colloq. E20. d. Perform fellatio or cunnilingus on (a person). US slang. E20.
J. M. Synge He eat the insides of a clock and died after. D. Attenborough Some caterpillars have made themselves unpleasant to eat. M. Amis They found out he was eating his diet and his normal food. (c) N. Mitford London society…simply ate Cedric up.
2.verb intrans. Consume food, take a meal; feed (on, upon); arch. eat some of a food. OE.
AV Exod. 34:15 Lest…thou eate of his sacrifice. Pope Yet on plain pudding deign'd at home to eat. G. Vidal You lovely ones must have dinner with me this evening, otherwise I must eat alone.
3.verb trans. Leave (grain, grass, etc.) to animals to be eaten. Foll. by with. E16.
Perthshire Journal The pasture…he intended to eat with sheep.
4.verb intrans. Have a certain consistency or flavour when eaten. L16.
Shakes. All's Well Like one of our French wither'd pears:…it eats drily.
5.verb trans. Provide with food. US slang. M19.
J. T. Trowbridge I might hide ye; but I can't eat ye.
IIDestroy by devouring.
6.verb trans. Devour, consume; feed destructively on (crops, vegetation, etc.). OE. b. Bother, vex; make anxious. colloq. (orig. US). L19.
AV Exod. 10:12 Stretch out thine hand…for the locusts, that they may…eate euery herbe of the land. OED He went to Africa, and got eaten by a lion. fig.: Shakes. Rich. III Or, earth, gape open wide and eat him quick. A. S. Neill If you throw any nutshells on that floor Mrs. Findlay will eat you. (b) A. Miller He thinks I've been spiting him all these years and it's eating him up.
7.verb trans. Gnaw, wear away by gnawing; destroy gradually or insidiously by corrosion, erosion, disease, etc. ME.
AV Acts 12:23 Hee was eaten of wormes and gave up the ghost. Coleridge His limbs The silent frost had eat, scathing like fire. J. Hodgson The cliffs chalky and stratified,…eaten into caves.
8.verb intrans. Make a way (into, through) by gnawing, corrosion, etc. E17.
fig.: E. Birney Night's dissolvent eats into the west / browning the stippled mauve.
9.verb trans. Make (a hole, a passage, one's way) by gnawing, corrosion, etc. L17.
Dryden The slow creeping Evil eats his way…and makes the Life his Prey. T. H. Huxley Little water-courses may be eaten out of solid rock by a running stream.
Phrases, & with adverbs in specialized senses eat away destroy gradually (lit. & fig.). eat crow N. Amer. submit to humiliation. eat Chinese, eat Indian, etc., have a meal of Chinese, Indian, etc., food. eat dinners = eat one's terms below. eat dirt: see dirt noun. eat humble pie: see humble adjective1. eat its head off (of an animal) cost more for food than it will sell for. eat like a horse: see horse noun. eat off clear off (a crop) by feeding it to animals. eat one's cake and have it: see cake noun. eat one's heart (out) brood or suffer with grief or longing. eat one's terms be studying for the Bar, and therefore having to dine a certain number of times in the Hall of an Inn of Court. eat one's words retract, usu. in a humiliated manner, something one has said. eat oneself sick eat until one vomits or feels ill. eat out (a) verb phr. trans. destroy parasitically or corrosively; (b) verb phr. trans. encroach upon (space; formerly also, time); (c) verb phr. intrans. take a meal elsewhere than at one's residence. eat out of a person's hand be entirely submissive or obedient to a person. eat out of house and home (usu. hyperbol.) ruin (a person) by eating all he or she has. eat the bread of: see bread noun1. eat the wind out of Nautical sail to windward of (another vessel). eat up (a) consume completely or wastefully; (b) consume all the resources of; (c) annex rapaciously; (d) assimilate the ideas of; (e) absorb; (f) wear out the life of (with remorse etc.); (g) traverse (a distance) rapidly; (h) finish eating; (see also sense 1c above). have one's cake and eat it etc.: see cake noun. he won't eat you, it won't eat you, etc., he etc. will not injure or harm you.
Comb. eat-in adjective (N. Amer.) designating a kitchen designed for eating in as well as cooking.
DERIVATIVE eatery noun (colloq., chiefly N. Amer.) a restaurant or cafe. E20.