eat

For the verb: "to eat"

Simple Past:	ate
Past Participle:	eaten

Multiple Entries:
  eat    EAT  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
eat/iːt/

▶verb (past ate /ɛt, eɪt/; past part. eaten)

• 1 put (food) into the mouth and chew and swallow it.

  ■ (eat out or in) have a meal in a restaurant (or at home).

• 2 (eat something away or eat away at/into) erode or destroy something gradually.

  ■ (eat something up) use resources in very large quantities.

  ■ (eat someone up) dominate someone's thoughts completely.

▶noun (eats) informal light food or snacks.

– phrases
eat one's heart out suffer from excessive longing for something unattainable.
eat like a bird (or a horse) informal eat very little (or a lot).
eat one's words retract what one has said, especially in a humiliated way.
I'll eat my hat informal said to indicate that one thinks something is extremely unlikely to happen.
what's eating you (or him etc.)? informal what is worrying or annoying you?

– derivatives
eater noun.

– origin OE etan, of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
EAT

▶abbreviation Tanzania (international vehicle registration).

– origin from East Africa Tanzania.