feed

1 /fi:d/ past tense and past participle fed /fed/ verb

1 GIVE FOOD (T)

a) to give food to a person or animal: Have you fed the cat? | He's so old and ill he can't feed himself any more. | feed sth to sb: Feed the food to the baby in small pieces. | feed sb on sth: Most people feed parrots on nuts.

b) to provide enough food for a group of people: You can't feed a family of five on $100 a week.

2 PLANT (T) to give a special substance to a plant which makes it grow: Feed the tomatoes once a week.

3 ANIMAL/BABY (I) if a baby or an animal feeds, they eat: Frogs generally feed at night.

—see also: feed on sth feed 1

4 SUPPLY STH (T) to supply something such as fuel 1 (1) or information to someone or something : feed sth with: The carburettor has to keep feeding the cylinders with petrol. | feed sth into: The data is then fed into a computer. | feed sth to sb: US intelligence had been feeding false information to a KGB agent.

5 PUSH STH THROUGH (T) to gradually push or put something such as a tube or a wire through a small hole : feed sth into/through: The tube was fed down through the patient's throat into her stomach.

6 (T) feed sb's guilt/vanity/paranoia etc to do something that makes someone feel more guilty etc: You shouldn't say that, you'll only feed his paranoia.

7 feed lines/jokes to sb to say things to another performer so that they can make jokes

8 well-fed/under-fed/poorly-fed having plenty of food or not enough food: exhausted, under-fed children

9 feed your face informal to eat a lot of food

10 feed sb a line informal to tell someone something which is not true so that they will do what you want: She tried to feed him a line about unexpected expenses.

11 feed a meter to keep putting money into a machine so that you can have electricity, park your car etc

—see also: breast­feed, force­feed, spoon­feed, mouth to feed mouth 1 (9) feed off sth phrasal verb (T)

1 if an animal feeds off something, it gets food from it: The pigeons feed off our neighbour's crops.

2 an insulting way of saying that someone uses something to continue their activities: The press feeds off gossip and tittle-tattle.

feed on sth phrasal verb (T)

1 if an animal feeds on a particular food, it usually eats that food: Owls feed on mice and other small animals.

2 if a feeling or process feeds on something, it becomes stronger because of it: Prejudice feeds on mistrust and ignorance.

feed sb up phrasal verb (T) to give someone a lot of food to make them more healthy 2 noun

1 BABY (C) one of the times when you give milk to a small baby: Is it time for Zoe's feed yet?

2 ANIMAL FOOD (U) food for animals: hen-feed

3 TUBE (C) a tube which supplies a machine with fuel 1 (1): There's a blockage in the petrol feed.

4 MEAL (C) old-fashioned a big meal

5 PERFORMER (C) BrE a performer who says things so that another performer can make jokes about them

—see also: chickenfeed