Eat I Ate Food Iːt Eating Properly Bite

• i was too nervous to eat.
• to eat well/healthily
• she doesn't eat properly (= doesn't eat food that is good for her).
• i don't eat meat.

eat

Verb Forms

1. to put food in your mouth, bite it and swallow it
• I was too nervous to eat.
• to eat well/healthily
• She doesn't eat properly (= doesn't eat food that is good for her).
• I don't eat meat.
• to eat breakfast/lunch/dinner
• Would you like something to eat?
• I couldn't eat another thing (= I have had enough food).

Extra Examples

• Barton did not feel very hungry and ate sparingly.
• Do you have anything to eat?
• Keep a record of everything you eat and drink.
• Do you want to grab a bite to eat?
• Everyone happily ate the huge meal.
• Go and get yourself something to eat and drink.
• He had not eaten properly for days.
• He'd barely eaten any breakfast.
• He's not eating enough.
• I'm trying to eat more healthily.
• Try and eat something. It will do you good.
• We ate very well most of the time.
• I ate junk food and stopped working out.
• Try to eat a balanced diet.
2. to have a meal
• Where shall we eat tonight?
• We ate at a pizzeria.
• I never eat in the school cafeteria.

Extra Examples

• We eventually sat down to eat at 8.30 p.m.
• We went out to eat for a Chinese New Year celebration.
• Let's go eat.
3. a situation in business, politics, etc. where there is a lot of competition and people are willing to harm each other in order to succeed
• I'm afraid in this line of work it's a case of dog eat dog.
• We're operating in a dog-eat-dog world.
4. to criticize or punish somebody severely because you are extremely angry with them
• He’ll eat you alive if he ever finds out.
5. to defeat somebody completely in an argument, a competition, etc.
• The defence lawyers are going to eat you alive tomorrow.
6. to bite somebody many times
• I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes.
7. to accept bad treatment and being made to feel small or stupid
• Her mother ate dirt in poorly-paid jobs just so the family could stay in the country.
8. said to encourage somebody to enjoy life now, while they can, and not to think of the future
9. used to compare two things and say that one of them is better
• Look at him dance! Eat your heart out, Fred Astaire (= he dances even better than Fred Astaire).
10. to feel very unhappy, especially because you want somebody/something you cannot have
• I’m not going to mope at home, eating my heart out for some man.
11. to say and show that you are sorry for a mistake that you made
12. to eat a lot
• She may be thin, but she eats like a horse.
13. to trust somebody and be willing to do what they say
• She'll have them eating out of her hand in no time.
14. to eat a lot of somebody else’s food
• How much longer is he staying? He’s eating us out of house and home.
15. to admit that what you said was wrong
• When he told her she would fail, she swore she would make him eat his words.
16. to have the advantages of something without its disadvantages; to have both things that are available
17. used to say that you are very hungry
18. used to say that you think something is very unlikely to happen
• If she's here on time, I'll eat my hat!
19. very pleased with yourself
• SYNONYM smug
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/smug
• She looked like a cat that’s swallowed the canary. She was almost purring with pleasure.
20. used to ask what somebody is annoyed or worried about

Word Origin

• Old English etan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch eten and German essen, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin edere and Greek edein.