Eat \Eat\ ([=e]t), v. t. [imp. Ate ([=a]t; 277), Obsolescent
         &
   Colloq. Eat ([e^]t);
         p. p. Eaten ([=e]t"'n),
         Obs.
         or
   Colloq. Eat ([e^]t);
         p. pr. & vb. n. Eating.]
         [OE. eten,
   AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D.
         eten, OHG. ezzan,
   G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. [aum]ta, Dan.
         [ae]de, Goth. itan,
   Ir. & Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere,
         Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad.
   [root]6. Cf. Etch, Fret to
         rub, Edible.]
   1. To
         chew and swallow as food; to
         devour; -- said especially
      of food not liquid; as, to
         eat bread. "To eat grass as
      oxen." --Dan. iv. 25.
  
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            They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps.
                                                  cvi. 28.
     
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            The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine.
                                                  --Gen. xli.
                                                  20.
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         Webster]

            The lion had not eaten the carcass.   --1 Kings
                                                  xiii. 28.
     
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            With stories told of many a feat,
            How fairy Mab the junkets eat.        --Milton.
     
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            The island princes overbold
            Have eat our substance.               --Tennyson.
     
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            His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.
                                                  --Thackeray.
     
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   2. To corrode, as metal, by rust; to
         consume the flesh, as a
      cancer; to waste or wear
         away; to destroy gradually; to
      cause to disappear.
 
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   To eat humble pie. See under
         Humble.

   To eat of
         (partitive use). "Eat of the
         bread that can not
      waste." --Keble.

   {To eat
         one's words}, to retract what one has said. (See the
     
         Citation under Blurt.)


           To eat out, to
         consume
         completely. "Eat out the heart and
      comfort of it."
         --Tillotson.

   To eat the wind out of a vessel
         (Naut.), to gain slowly to
      windward of her.

  
         Syn: To consume; devour; gnaw; corrode.
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         Webster]