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Webster 1913 Edition

Feed

Feed

(fēd)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Fed
(fĕd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Feeding
.]
[AS.
fēdan
, fr.
fōda
food; akin to OS.
fōdian
, OFries.
fēda
,
fōda
, D.
voeden
, OHG.
fuottan
, Icel.
fæða
, Sw.
föda
, Dan.
föde
. √75. See
Food
.]
1.
To give food to; to supply with nourishment; to satisfy the physical huger of.
If thine enemy hunger,
feed
him.
Rom. xii. 20.
Unreasonable creatures
feed
their young.
Shakespeare
2.
To satisfy; gratify or minister to, as any sense, talent, taste, or desire.
I will
feed
fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
Shakespeare
Feeding
him with the hope of liberty.
Knolles.
3.
To fill the wants of; to supply with that which is used or wasted;
as, springs
feed
ponds; the hopper
feeds
the mill; to
feed
a furnace with coal.
4.
To nourish, in a general sense; to foster, strengthen, develop, and guard.
Thou shalt
feed
my people Israel.
2 Sam. v. 2.
Mightiest powers by deepest calms are
fed
.
B. Cornwall.
5.
To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle;
as, if grain is too forward in autumn,
feed
it with sheep
.
Once in three years
feed
your mowing lands.
Mortimer.
6.
To give for food, especially to animals; to furnish for consumption;
as, to
feed
out turnips to the cows; to
feed
water to a steam boiler.
7.
(Mach.)
(a)
To supply (the material to be operated upon) to a machine;
as, to
feed
paper to a printing press
.
(b)
To produce progressive operation upon or with (as in wood and metal working machines, so that the work moves to the cutting tool, or the tool to the work).

Feed

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To take food; to eat.
Her kid . . . which I afterwards killed because it would not
feed
.
De Foe.
2.
To subject by eating; to satisfy the appetite; to feed one’s self (upon something); to prey; – with on or upon.
Leaving thy trunk for crows to
feed
upon.
Shakespeare
3.
To be nourished, strengthened, or satisfied, as if by food.
“He feeds upon the cooling shade.”
Spenser.
4.
To place cattle to feed; to pasture; to graze.
If a man . . . shall put in his beast, and shall
feed
in another man's field.
Ex. xxii. 5.

Feed

,
Noun.
1.
That which is eaten; esp., food for beasts; fodder; pasture; hay; grain, ground or whole;
as, the best
feed
for sheep
.
2.
A grazing or pasture ground.
Shak.
3.
An allowance of provender given to a horse, cow, etc.; a meal;
as, a
feed
of corn or oats
.
4.
A meal, or the act of eating.
[R.]
For such pleasure till that hour
At
feed
or fountain never had I found.
Milton.
5.
The water supplied to steam boilers.
6.
(Mach.)
(a)
The motion, or act, of carrying forward the stuff to be operated upon, as cloth to the needle in a sewing machine; or of producing progressive operation upon any material or object in a machine, as, in a turning lathe, by moving the cutting tool along or in the work.
(b)
The supply of material to a machine, as water to a steam boiler, coal to a furnace, or grain to a run of stones.
(c)
The mechanism by which the action of feeding is produced; a feed motion.
Feed bag
,
a nose bag containing feed for a horse or mule.
–
Feed cloth
,
an apron for leading cotton, wool, or other fiber, into a machine, as for carding, etc.
–
Feed door
,
a door to a furnace, by which to supply coal.
–
Feed head
.
(a)
A cistern for feeding water by gravity to a steam boiler.
(b)
(Founding)
An excess of metal above a mold, which serves to render the casting more compact by its pressure; – also called a
riser
,
deadhead
, or simply
feed
or
head
Knight.
–
Feed heater
.
(a)
(Steam Engine)
A vessel in which the feed water for the boiler is heated, usually by exhaust steam.
(b)
A boiler or kettle in which is heated food for stock.
–
Feed motion
, or
Feed gear
(Mach.)
,
the train of mechanism that gives motion to the part that directly produces the feed in a machine.
–
Feed pipe
,
a pipe for supplying the boiler of a steam engine, etc., with water.
–
Feed pump
,
a force pump for supplying water to a steam boiler, etc.
–
Feed regulator
,
a device for graduating the operation of a feeder.
Knight.
–
Feed screw
,
in lathes, a long screw employed to impart a regular motion to a tool rest or tool, or to the work.
–
Feed water
,
water supplied to a steam boiler, etc.
–
Feed wheel
(Mach.)
,
a kind of feeder. See
Feeder
,
Noun.
, 8.

Webster 1828 Edition

Feed

FEED

,
Verb.
T.
pret. and pp. [See Father.]
1.
To give food to; as, to feed an infant; to feed horses and oxen.
2.
To supply with provisions. We have flour and meat enough to feed the army a month.
3.
To supply; to furnish with any thing of which there is constant consumption, waste or use. Springs, feed ponds, lakes and rivers; ponds and streams feed canals. Mills are fed from hoppers.
4.
To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle If grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep.
5.
To nourish; to cherish; to supply with nutriment; as, to feed hope or expectation; to feed vanity.
6.
To keep in hope or expectation; as, to feed one with hope.
7.
To supply fuel; as, to feed a fire.
8.
To delight; to supply with something desirable; to entertain; as, to feed the eye with the beauties of a landscape.
9.
To give food or fodder for fattening; to fatten. The county of Hampshire, in Massachusetts, feeds a great number of cattle for slaughter.
10.
To supply with food, and to lead, guard and protect; a scriptural sense.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. Is. 40.

FEED

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To take food; to eat.
2.
To subsist by eating; to prey. Some birds feed on seeds and berries, others on flesh.
3.
To pasture; to graze; to place cattle to feed. Ex. 22.
4.
To grow fat.

FEED

,
Noun.
1.
Food; that which is eaten; pasture; fodder; applied to that which is eaten by beasts, not to the food of men. The hills of our country furnish the best feed for sheep.
2.
Meal, or act of eating.
For such pleasure till that hour at feed or fountain never had I found.

Definition 2024

feed

feed

English

Verb

feed ‎(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.
    Feed the dog every evening.‎
    • Bible, Romans xii.20:
      If thine enemy hunger, feed him.
  2. (intransitive) To eat (usually of animals).
    Spiders feed on gnats and flies.‎
    • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapter1:
      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, […].
  3. (transitive) To give (someone or something) to (someone or something else) as food.
    Feed the fish to the dolphins.‎
    • 2012 December 25 (airdate), Steven Moffat, The Snowmen (Doctor Who)
      DR SIMEON: I said I'd feed you. I didn't say who to.
  4. (transitive) To give to a machine to be processed.
    Feed the paper gently into the document shredder.‎
    We got interesting results after feeding the computer with the new data.‎
  5. (figuratively) To satisfy, gratify, or minister to (a sense, taste, desire, etc.).
  6. To supply with something.
    Springs feed ponds with water.‎
  7. To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle.
    If grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep.‎
    • Mortimer
      Once in three years feed your mowing lands.
  8. (sports, transitive) To pass to.
    • 2010 December 28, Kevin Darlin, “West Brom 1-3 Blackburn”, in BBC:
      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
  9. (phonology, of a phonological rule) To create the environment where another phonological rule can apply.
    Nasalization feeds raising.‎
Synonyms

(to give food to eat): nourish

Translations

Noun

feed ‎(countable and uncountable, plural feeds)

  1. (uncountable) Food given to (especially herbivorous) animals.
    They sell feed, riding helmets, and everything else for horses.
  2. Something supplied continuously.
    a satellite feed
  3. The part of a machine that supplies the material to be operated upon.
    the paper feed of a printer
  4. (countable) A gathering to eat, especially in quantity
    They held a crab feed on the beach.
  5. (Internet) Encapsulated online content, such as news or a blog, that can be subscribed to.
    I've subscribed to the feeds of my favourite blogs, so I can find out when new posts are added without having to visit those sites.
Derived terms
Translations
encapsulated online content that you can subscribe to with a feed reader
  • Japanese: フィード ‎(fīdo)
  • Korean: 피드 ‎(pideu)
  • Norwegian: mating m
  • Portuguese: feed (pt) m
  • Russian: новостна́я ле́нта f ‎(novostnája lénta), ле́нта новосте́й f ‎(lénta novostéj), фид (ru) m ‎(fid) (colloquial)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

fe(e) + -(e)d

Verb

feed

  1. simple past tense and past participle of fee

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish fichet (compare Scottish Gaelic fichead), genitive singular of fiche ‎(“twenty”), from Proto-Celtic *wikantī (compare Welsh ugain), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wih₁ḱm̥t (compare Latin vīgintī), from *dwi(h₁)dḱm̥ti ‎(“two-ten”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fiːdʒ/

Numeral

feed

  1. (cardinal) twenty

References

  • “fiche” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English feed.

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈfid͡ʒ/

Noun

feed m (plural feeds)

  1. (Internet) feed (encapsulated online content that one can subscribe to)

Etymology

From Middle English feden, from Old English fēdan ‎(“to feed”), from Proto-Germanic *fōdijaną ‎(“to feed”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‎(“to guard, graze, feed”). Cognate with West Frisian fiede ‎(“to nourish, feed”), Dutch voeden ‎(“to feed”), Danish føde ‎(“to bring forth, feed”), Swedish föda ‎(“to bring forth, feed”), Icelandic fæða ‎(“to feed”), and more distantly with Latin pāscō ‎(“feed, nourish”, verb) through Indo-European. More at food, fodder.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfiːd/
  • Rhymes: -iːd

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