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—eater, n./eet/, v., ate /ayt/; esp. Brit. /et/ or (Archaic) eat /et, eet/; eaten or (Archaic) eat /et, eet/; eating; n.v.t.2. to consume by or as if by devouring gradually; wear away; corrode: The patient was eaten by disease and pain.4. to ravage or devastate: a forest eaten by fire.5. to use up, esp. wastefully; consume (often fol. by up): Unexpected expenses have been eating up their savings.6. to absorb or pay for: The builder had to eat the cost of the repairs.v.i.8. to consume food; take a meal: We'll eat at six o'clock.9. to make a way, as by gnawing or corrosion: Acid ate through the linoleum.10. be eating someone, Informal. to worry, annoy, or bother: Something seems to be eating him - he's been wearing a frown all day.11. eat away or into, to destroy gradually, as by erosion: For eons, the pounding waves ate away at the shoreline.15. eat in, to eat or dine at home.19. eat out, to have a meal at a restaurant rather than at home.21. eat someone out of house and home, to eat so much as to strain someone's resources of food or money: A group of hungry teenagers can eat you out of house and home.23. eat the wind out of, Naut. to blanket (a sailing vessel sailing close-hauled) by sailing close on the weather side of.24. eat up,a. to consume wholly.b. to show enthusiasm for; take pleasure in: The audience ate up everything he said.c. to believe without question.n.[bef. 900; ME eten, OE etan; c. G essen, Goth itan, L edere]
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Universalium. 2010.