ate Definition

ate past tense of eat

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eat
verb ate, eaten, eating

1. To bite, chew and swallow (food).

Thesaurus: consume, devour, dine on, feed on, chew, bite, swallow, gobble, ingest.
intr
2. To take in food; to take a meal.
3. To take something in as food.
4. To tolerate something as food.
5. To eat into something.

Thesaurus: waste, corrode, erode, wear away, dissolve, dissipate, squander.
6. colloq
To trouble or worry someone
Example: What's eating you?

Idiom: be eaten up by something (be eaten up with something)

: to be greatly affected by it (usually a bad feeling).
Example: be eaten up with jealousy

Idiom: eat humble pie

To lower oneself or lose dignity, eg by admitting a mistake.

Idiom: eat one's heart out

To suffer, especially in silence, from some longing or anxiety, or from envy.

Idiom: eat one's words

To admit that one was wrong.

Idiom: eat out of someone's hand

colloq
To be very willing to follow, obey or agree with them.

Idiom: eat up the miles

Said of a vehicle: to cover a distance at speed.

Idiom: What's eating you, him etc ?

What's wrong with you, him, etc?

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon etan.

Phrasal Verb: eat something away or eat away at something

To gnaw it.To eat into it (sense 3).

Phrasal Verb: eat in

To eat at home rather than in a restaurant, cafe, etc.

Phrasal Verb: eat into or through something

To use it up gradually.To waste it.To destroy its material, substance or form, etc, especially by chemical action; to corrode it.

Phrasal Verb: eat out

To eat at a restaurant, cafe, etc rather than at home.

Phrasal Verb: eat up

To finish one's food.

Phrasal Verb: eat something up

To finish (one's food).To destroy it.To absorb; to listen with real interest.

Phrasal Verb: be eaten up with something

To be consumed by (jealousy, etc).