feed

[[t]fi͟ːd[/t]]

♦♦

feeds, feeding, fed

1) VERB If you feed a person or animal, you give them food to eat and sometimes actually put it in their mouths.

[V n] We brought along pieces of old bread and fed the birds...

[V n n] She fed him a cookie...

[V n on/with n] He fed me on barbecue ribs, and talked to me non-stop...

[V n to n] He spooned the ice cream into a cup and fed it to her. [Also V pron-refl]

Derived words:

feeding plural N-VAR

The feeding of dairy cows has undergone a revolution.

N-COUNT

Feed is also a noun. [mainly BRIT]

She's had a good feed.

2) VERB To feed a family or a community means to supply food for them.

[V n] Feeding a hungry family can be expensive .

[V n] ...a food reserve large enough to feed the Sudanese population for many months.

3) VERB When an animal feeds, it eats or drinks something.

After a few days the caterpillars stopped feeding...

[V on/off n] Slugs feed on decaying plant and animal material.

4) V-ERG When a baby feeds, or when you feed it, it drinks breast milk or milk from a bottle.

When a baby is thirsty, it feeds more often...

[V n] I knew absolutely nothing about handling or feeding a baby.

5) N-MASS: usu n N Animal feed is food given to animals, especially farm animals.

The grain just rotted and all they could use it for was animal feed.

...poultry feed.

6) VERB To feed something to a place, means to supply it to that place in a steady flow.

[V n prep] ...blood vessels that feed blood to the brain.

[V n prep] ...gas fed through pipelines.

7) VERB If you feed something into a container or piece of equipment, you put it into it.

[V n prep] He took the compact disc from her, then fed it into the player...

[V n prep] She was feeding documents into a paper shredder.

8) VERB If someone feeds you false or secret information, they deliberately tell it to you.

[V n n] He was surrounded by people who fed him ghastly lies...

[V n with n] At least one British officer was feeding him with classified information. [Also V n to n]

9) VERB If you feed someone's dislike or desire for something, you make it stronger.

[V n] The divorce was painfully public, feeding her dislike of the press.

10) VERB If you feed a plant, you add substances to it to make it grow well.

[V n] Feed plants to encourage steady growth.

11) VERB If one thing feeds on another, it becomes stronger as a result of the other thing's existence.

[V on n] The drinking and the guilt fed on each other.

12) VERB To feed information into a computer means to gradually put it into it.

[V n into/to n] An automatic weather station feeds information on wind direction to the computer.

13) to bite the hand that feeds you → see bite

another mouth to feed → see mouth

Phrasal Verbs:

- feed up