eating

eating
    n 1: the act of consuming food [syn: {eating}, {feeding}]
    

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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            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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Eating \Eat"ing\, n.
   1. The act of tasking food; the act of consuming or
      corroding.
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   2. Something fit to be eaten; food; as, a peach is good
      eating. [Colloq.]
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   {Eating house}, a house where cooked provisions are sold, to
      be eaten on the premises.
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Eating
The ancient Hebrews would not eat with the Egyptians (Gen.
43:32). In the time of our Lord they would not eat with
Samaritans (John 4:9), and were astonished that he ate with
publicans and sinners (Matt. 9:11). The Hebrews originally sat
at table, but afterwards adopted the Persian and Chaldean
practice of reclining (Luke 7:36-50). Their principal meal was
at noon (Gen. 43:16; 1 Kings 20:16; Ruth 2:14; Luke 14:12). The
word "eat" is used metaphorically in Jer. 15:16; Ezek. 3:1; Rev.
10:9. In John 6:53-58, "eating and drinking" means believing in
Christ. Women were never present as guests at meals (q.v.).
    

47 Moby Thesaurus words for "eating":
      cannibal, cannibalistic, carnivorous, commensal, dietetic, dining,
      drinking, engorgement, engulfment, feeding, flesh-eating,
      fruitarian, gastronomic, gluttonous, grain-eating, graminivorous,
      granivorous, grass-eating, gulp, gulping, herbivorous, imbibition,
      ingestion, ingurgitation, insect-eating, insectivorous,
      lactovegetarian, man-eating, meat-eating, mensal, nourishing,
      nutritious, omnivorous, omophagous, pantophagous, phytivorous,
      phytophagous, plant-eating, postprandial, prandial, predacious,
      preprandial, slurp, swallow, swallowing, vegetable-eating,
      vegetarian