Definition of "feed"

feed¹

/ˈfiːd/

verb
third-person singular simple present feeds, present participle feeding, simple past and past participle fed
1. (transitive) To give (someone or something) food to eat.
  Quotations
  If thine enemy hunger, feed him.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Romans 12:20
2. (intransitive) To eat (usually of animals).
  Quotations
  “The treasurer was of the same opinion: he showed to what straits his majesty’s revenue was reduced, by the charge of maintaining you, which would soon grow insupportable; that the secretary’s expedient of putting out your eyes, was so far from being a remedy against this evil, that it would probably increase it, as is manifest from the common practice of blinding some kind of fowls, after which they fed the faster, and grew sooner fat;[...]
  1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part I (A Voyage to Lilliput)
  But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, […].
  1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […]
  While feeding, the basking shark swims at about two knots per hour, and this enables it to eat and breathe in the same motion.
  1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, page 89
3. (ditransitive) To give (someone or something) to (someone or something else) as food.
  Quotations
  DR SIMEON: I said I'd feed you. I didn't say who to.
  2012 December 25 (airdate), Steven Moffat, The Snowmen (Doctor Who)
4. (transitive) To give to a machine to be processed.
5. (figurative) To satisfy, gratify, or minister to (a sense, taste, desire, etc.).
  Quotations
  If I can catch him once upon the hip, / I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
  c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iii]
  feeding him with the hope of liberty
  1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip
6. To supply with something.
7. To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle.
  Quotations
  Once in three years, or every other year, feed your mowing-lands.
  1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708
8. (sports, transitive) To pass to.
  Quotations
  Morrison then played a pivotal role in West Brom's equaliser, powering through the middle and feeding Tchoyi, whose low, teasing right-wing cross was poked in by Thomas at the far post
  2010 December 28, Kevin Darlin, “West Brom 1-3 Blackburn”, in BBC
9. (phonology, of a phonological rule) To create the environment where another phonological rule can apply; to be applied before another rule.
10. (syntax, of a syntactic rule) To create the syntactic environment in which another syntactic rule is applied; to be applied before another syntactic rule.
  Quotations
  This orthodox analysis […] leads to the conclusion that […] Subject–Auxiliary Inversion (SAI) is fed by the contraction operation.
  1983, Arnold M. Zwicky, Geoffrey K. Pullum, “Cliticization vs. Inflection: English N'T”, in Language, volume 59, number 3, page 506

feed²

/ˈfiːd/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural feeds
1. (uncountable) Food given to (especially herbivorous) non-human animals.
2. Something supplied continuously.
3. The part of a machine that supplies the material to be operated upon.
4. The forward motion of the material fed into a machine.
5. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, countable) A meal.
  Quotations
  One proposed going to Hungerford-market to do a feed on decayed shrimps or other offal laying about the market; another proposed going to Covent-garden to do a 'tightener' of rotten oranges, to which I was humorously invited; […]
  184?, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor
  "There won't be any more blessed concerts for a million years or so; there won't be any Royal Academy of Arts, and no nice little feeds at restaurants."
  1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 257
6. (countable) A gathering to eat, especially in large quantities.
7. (Internet) Encapsulated online content, such as news or a blog, that can be subscribed to.
  Quotations
  Refresh the top of your various “feeds” — the running column of content on some versions of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — and you will see the latest news at the top. The further back you scroll, the older the material gets.
  2016 March 15, Mike Isaac, “Instagram May Change Your Feed, Personalizing It With an Algorithm”, in The New York Times‎
  Despite spending years studying these toxic dynamics and the better part of a month watching them up close in strangers’ feeds, I was still, like so many, surprised to see it all reflected at the ballot box. We shouldn’t have been surprised; our divisions have been in front of our faces and inside our feeds this whole time.
  2020 November 24, Charlie Warzel, “What Facebook Fed the Baby Boomers”, in The New York Times‎
8. A straight man who delivers lines to the comedian during a performance.
  Quotations
  Don Ward is often described as a former comic, having some experience in this area as a young man, acting as a feed for the comic actor David Lodge at Parkins Holiday Camp in Jersey […]
  2020, Oliver Double, Alternative Comedy: 1979 and the Reinvention of British Stand-Up, page 38

feed³

/ˈfiːd/

verb
1. simple past and past participle of fee

Definition of "feed"

feed1

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

feed2

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

feed3

verb

feed¹

feed²

feed³