English
feed
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English feden, from Old English fēdan, from Proto-West Germanic *fōdijan, from Proto-Germanic *fōdijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-.

Verb

feed (third-person singular simple present feeds, present participle feeding, simple past and past participle fed)

  1. (transitive) To give (someone or something) food to eat.
    Feed the dog every evening.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Romans 12:20 ↗:
      If thine enemy hunger, feed him.
  2. (intransitive) To eat (usually of animals).
    Spiders feed on gnats and flies.
    • 1726 October 27, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver's Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC ↗, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput):
      “The treasurer was of the same opinion: he showed to what straits his majesty’s revenue was reduced, by the charge of maintaining you, which would soon grow insupportable; that the secretary’s expedient of putting out your eyes, was so far from being a remedy against this evil, that it would probably increase it, as is manifest from the common practice of blinding some kind of fowls, after which they fed the faster, and grew sooner fat;[...]
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC ↗:
      But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, […].
  3. (ditransitive) To give (someone or something) to (someone or something else) as food.
    Feed the fish to the dolphins.
    • 2012 December 25 (airdate), Steven Moffat, The Snowmen (Doctor Who)
      DR SIMEON: I said I'd feed you. I didn't say who to.
  4. (transitive) To give to a machine to be processed.
    Feed the paper gently into the document shredder.
    We got interesting results after feeding the computer with the new data.
  5. (figurative) To satisfy, gratify, or minister to (a sense, taste, desire, etc.).
    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene iii]:
      If I can catch him once upon the hip, / I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
    • 1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC ↗:
      feeding him with the hope of liberty
  6. To supply with something.
    Springs feed ponds with water.
  7. To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle.
    If grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep.
    • 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC ↗:
      Once in three years, or every other year, feed your mowing-lands.
  8. (sports, transitive) To pass to.
  9. (phonology, of a phonological rule) To create the environment where another phonological rule can apply; to be applied before another rule.
    Nasalization feeds raising.
  10. (syntax, of a syntactic rule) To create the syntactic environment in which another syntactic rule is applied; to be applied before another syntactic rule.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Etymology 2

From Middle English fede, fed, from the verb (see above).

Noun

feed

  1. (uncountable) Food given to (especially herbivorous) non-human animals.
    Coordinate term: fodder
    They sell feed, riding helmets, and everything else for horses.
  2. Something supplied continuously.
    a satellite feed
  3. The part of a machine that supplies the material to be operated upon.
    Coordinate terms: feeder, feedbin, hopper
    Hyponyms: barfeed, barfeeder
    the paper feed of a printer
  4. The forward motion of the material fed into a machine.
    Coordinate terms: speed, speeds and feeds
  5. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, countable) A meal.
    • 184?, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor
      One proposed going to Hungerford-market to do a feed on decayed shrimps or other offal laying about the market; another proposed going to Covent-garden to do a 'tightener' of rotten oranges, to which I was humorously invited; […]
  6. (countable) A gathering to eat, especially in large quantities.
    Synonyms: feast
    They held a crab feed on the beach.
  7. (Internet) Encapsulated online content, such as news or a blog, that can be subscribed to.
    I've subscribed to the feeds of my favourite blogs, so I can find out when new posts are added without having to visit those sites.
  8. A straight man who delivers lines to the comedian during a performance.
    • 2020, Oliver Double, Alternative Comedy: 1979 and the Reinvention of British Stand-Up, page 38:
      Don Ward is often described as a former comic, having some experience in this area as a young man, acting as a feed for the comic actor David Lodge at Parkins Holiday Camp in Jersey […]
Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • German: Feed
  • Italian: feed
  • Portuguese: feed
  • Russian: новостная лента
  • Spanish: feed
Etymology 3

From fee + -ed.

Verb
  1. Simple past tense and past participle of fee


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