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feed - 12 dictionary results
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feed

  [feed] verb, fed, feed⋅ing, noun
Use feed in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to give food to; supply with nourishment: to feed a child.
2. to yield or serve as food for: This land has fed 10 generations.
3. to provide as food.
4. to furnish for consumption.
5. to satisfy; minister to; gratify: Poetry feeds the imagination.
6. to supply for maintenance or operation, as to a machine: to feed paper into a photocopier.
7. to provide with the necessary materials for development, maintenance, or operation: to feed a printing press with paper.
8. to use (land) as pasture.
9. Theater Informal.
a. to supply (an actor, esp. a comedian) with lines or action, the responses to which are expected to elicit laughter.
b. to provide cues to (an actor).
c. Chiefly British. to prompt: Stand in the wings and feed them their lines.
10. Radio and Television. to distribute (a local broadcast) via satellite or network.
–verb (used without object)
11. (esp. of animals) to take food; eat: cows feeding in a meadow; to feed well.
12. to be nourished or gratified; subsist: to feed on grass; to feed on thoughts of revenge.
–noun
13. food, esp. for farm animals, as cattle, horses or chickens.
14. an allowance, portion, or supply of such food.
15. Informal. a meal, esp. a lavish one.
16. the act of feeding.
17. the act or process of feeding a furnace, machine, etc.
18. the material, or the amount of it, so fed or supplied.
19. a feeding mechanism.
20. Electricity. feeder (def. 10).
21. Theater Informal.
a. a line spoken by one actor, the response to which by another actor is expected to cause laughter.
b. an actor, esp. a straight man, who provides such lines.
22. a local television broadcast distributed by satellite or network to a much wider audience, esp. nationwide or international.
—Idioms
23. chain feed, to pass (work) successively into a machine in such a manner that each new piece is held in place by or connected to the one before.
24. off one's feed, Slang.
a. reluctant to eat; without appetite.
b. dejected; sad.
c. not well; ill.
Origin:
bef. 950; ME feden, OE fēdan; c. Goth fodjan, OS fōdian. See food

Related forms:
feed⋅a⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
1, 2. nourish, sustain. 5. nurture, support, encourage, bolster. 13. Feed, fodder, forage, provender mean food for animals. Feed is the general word: pig feed; chicken feed. Fodder is esp. applied to dry or green feed, as opposed to pasturage, fed to horses, cattle, etc.: fodder for winter feeding; Cornstalks are good fodder. Forage is food that an animal obtains (usually grass, leaves, etc.) by searching about for it: Lost cattle can usually live on forage. Provender denotes dry feed, such as hay, oats, or corn: a supply of provender in the haymow and corn cribs.

Antonyms:
1, 2. starve.

fee

  [fee] noun, verb, feed, fee⋅ing.
–noun
1. a charge or payment for professional services: a doctor's fee.
2. a sum paid or charged for a privilege: an admission fee.
3. a charge allowed by law for the service of a public officer.
4. Law.
a. an estate of inheritance in land, either absolute and without limitation to any particular class of heirs(fee simple) or limited to a particular class of heirs (fee tail).
b. an inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of the performing of certain services.
c. a territory held in fee.
5. a gratuity; tip.
–verb (used with object)
6. to give a fee to.
7. Chiefly Scot. to hire; employ.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME < AF; OF fie, var. of fief fief. See feudal

Related forms:
feeless, adjective

Synonyms:
1. stipend, salary, emolument; honorarium.

feed⋅er

  [fee-der]
–noun
1. a person or thing that supplies food or feeds something.
2. a bin or boxlike device from which farm animals may eat, esp. such a device designed to allow a number of chickens to feed simultaneously or to release a specific amount of feed at regular intervals.
3. a person or thing that takes food or nourishment.
4. a livestock animal that is fed an enriched diet to fatten it for market. Compare stocker (def. 2).
5. a person or device that feeds a machine, printing press, etc.
6. a tributary stream.
7. bird feeder.
8. feeder line.
9. feeder road.
10. Also, feed. Electricity. a conductor, or group of conductors, connecting primary equipment in an electric power system.
11. British. a baby's bib.
12. Theater Slang. straight man.
–adjective
13. being, functioning as, or serving as a feeder.
14. pertaining to livestock to be fattened for market.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME; see feed, -er 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To feed
fee   (fē)   
n.  
  1. A fixed sum charged, as by an institution or by law, for a privilege: a license fee; tuition fees.
  2. A charge for professional services: a surgeon's fee.
  3. A tip; a gratuity.
  4. Law An inherited or heritable estate in land.
    1. In feudal law, an estate in land granted by a lord to his vassal on condition of homage and service. Also called feud2, fief.
    2. The land so held.
tr.v.   feed, fee·ing, fees
  1. To give a tip to.
  2. Scots To hire.

[Middle English fe, from Old English feoh, cattle, goods, money, and from Anglo-Norman fee, fief (from Old French fie, fief, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English feoh); see peku- in Indo-European roots.]
Word History: It is possible to see the idea of money taking hold of the human mind by studying a few words that express the notion of wealth or goods. The word fee now denotes money paid or received for a service rendered. Fee comes from Old English feoh, which has three meanings, all equally ancient: "cattle, livestock"; "goods, possessions, movable property"; "money." The Germanic form behind the Old English is *fehu, which derives by Grimm's Law from Indo-European *peku-, "cattle." *Fehu is therefore a cognate of Latin pecu, "cattle," also a direct descendant of Indo-European *peku-. Latin pecu has several derivatives that ultimately were borrowed into English. One was pecūnia, "money," the source of our word pecuniary. Another was pecūliāris, "pertaining to one's pecūlium or property," the source of our word peculiar. Finally, our word peculator comes from yet a third derivative, pecūlātor, "embezzler of public money, peculator."
feed   (fēd)   
v.   fed (fěd), feed·ing, feeds

v.   tr.
    1. To give food to; supply with nourishment: feed the children.
    2. To provide as food or nourishment: fed fish to the cat.
    3. To serve as food for: The turkey is large enough to feed a dozen.
    4. To produce food for: The valley feeds an entire county.
    5. To provide for consumption, utilization, or operation: feed logs to a fire; feed data into a computer.
    6. To supply with something essential for growth, maintenance, or operation: Melting snow feeds the reservoirs.
    7. To distribute (a local radio or television broadcast) to a larger audience or group of receivers by way of a network or satellite.
    8. To minister to; gratify: fed their appetite for the morbid.
    9. To support or promote; encourage: His unexplained absences fed our suspicions.
    1. To serve as food for: The turkey is large enough to feed a dozen.
    2. To produce food for: The valley feeds an entire county.
    3. To provide for consumption, utilization, or operation: feed logs to a fire; feed data into a computer.
    4. To supply with something essential for growth, maintenance, or operation: Melting snow feeds the reservoirs.
    5. To distribute (a local radio or television broadcast) to a larger audience or group of receivers by way of a network or satellite.
    6. To minister to; gratify: fed their appetite for the morbid.
    7. To support or promote; encourage: His unexplained absences fed our suspicions.
    1. To provide for consumption, utilization, or operation: feed logs to a fire; feed data into a computer.
    2. To supply with something essential for growth, maintenance, or operation: Melting snow feeds the reservoirs.
    3. To distribute (a local radio or television broadcast) to a larger audience or group of receivers by way of a network or satellite.
    4. To minister to; gratify: fed their appetite for the morbid.
    5. To support or promote; encourage: His unexplained absences fed our suspicions.
    1. To minister to; gratify: fed their appetite for the morbid.
    2. To support or promote; encourage: His unexplained absences fed our suspicions.
  5. To supply as a cue: feed lines to an actor.
  6. Sports To pass a ball or puck to (a teammate), especially to set up a scoring chance.
v.   intr.
  1. To eat: pigs feeding at a trough.
  2. To be nourished or supported: an ego that feeds on flattery.
    1. To move steadily, as into a machine for processing.
    2. To be channeled; flow: This road feeds into the freeway.
n.  
    1. Food for animals or birds.
    2. The amount of such food given at one time.
    3. Material or an amount of material supplied, as to a machine or furnace.
    4. The act of supplying such material.
    5. An apparatus that supplies material to a machine.
    6. The aperture through which such material enters a machine.
    7. The transmission or conveyance of a local radio or television program, as by satellite, on the Internet, or by broadcast over a network of stations.
    8. A program or signal so transmitted or conveyed.
  2. Informal A meal, especially a large one.
  3. The act of eating.
    1. Material or an amount of material supplied, as to a machine or furnace.
    2. The act of supplying such material.
    3. An apparatus that supplies material to a machine.
    4. The aperture through which such material enters a machine.
    5. The transmission or conveyance of a local radio or television program, as by satellite, on the Internet, or by broadcast over a network of stations.
    6. A program or signal so transmitted or conveyed.
    1. An apparatus that supplies material to a machine.
    2. The aperture through which such material enters a machine.
    3. The transmission or conveyance of a local radio or television program, as by satellite, on the Internet, or by broadcast over a network of stations.
    4. A program or signal so transmitted or conveyed.
    1. The transmission or conveyance of a local radio or television program, as by satellite, on the Internet, or by broadcast over a network of stations.
    2. A program or signal so transmitted or conveyed.
  7. Sports A pass of a ball or puck, especially to set up a scoring chance.

[Middle English feden, from Old English fēdan; see pā- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Feed

Feed\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fed; p. pr. & vb. n. Feeding.] [AS. f?dan, fr. f?da food; akin to C?. f?dian, OFries f?da, f?da, D. voeden, OHG. fuottan, Icel. f[ae]?a, Sw. f["o]da, Dan. f["o]de. ? 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 reatures feed their young. --Shak.

2. To satisfy; grafity or minister to, as any sense, talent, taste, or desire.

I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. --Shak.

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 people Israel. --2 Sam. v. 2.

Mightiest powers by deepest calms are feed. --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

Feed\, v. 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. --Shak.

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

Feed\, n. 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, n., 8.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : feed
Spanish: dar de comer a, alimentar,
German: füttern,
Japanese: 食物を与える
More Translations »

feed  (v.)
O.E. fedan "nourish, feed," from P.Gmc. *fothjanan (cf. O.S. fodjan, O.Fris. feda, Goth. fodjan "to feed"). The noun sense of "food for animals" is first attested 1588. Fed up "surfeited, disgusted, bored," is British slang first recorded 1900, extended to U.S. by World War I; probably from earlier phrases like fed up to the back teeth. In the electronic sense, feedback is from 1920. Feeding frenzy is from 1989, metaphoric extension of a phrase that had been used of sharks since 1950s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: 1feed
Pronunciation: 'fEd
Function: verb
Inflected Form: fed /'fed/; feed·ing
transitive senses
1 a : to give food to b : to give as food
2 : to produce or provide food for feed intransitive senses
: to consume food : EAT

Main Entry: 2feed
Function: noun
1 a : an act of eating b : MEAL; especially : a large meal
2 a : food for livestock; specifically : a mixture or preparation for feeding livestock b : the amount given at each feeding
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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feed

In addition to the idioms beginning with feed, also see bite the hand that feeds you; chicken feed; off one's feed; put on the feed bag.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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