FEED (fed, feed)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does feed mean? 

• FEED (noun)
  The noun FEED has 1 sense:

1. food for domestic livestock

  Familiarity information: FEED used as a noun is very rare.

• FEED (verb)
  The verb FEED has 11 senses:

1. provide as food

2. give food to

3. feed into; supply

4. introduce continuously

5. support or promote

6. take in food; used of animals only

7. serve as food for; be the food for

8. move along, of liquids

9. profit from in an exploitatory manner

10. gratify

11. provide with fertilizers or add nutrients to

  Familiarity information: FEED used as a verb is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FEED (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Food for domestic livestock

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

feed; provender

Hypernyms ("feed" is a kind of...):

food; nutrient (any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "feed"):

mast (nuts of forest trees used as feed for swine)

blood meal (the dried and powdered blood of animals)

fish meal (ground dried fish used as fertilizer and as feed for domestic livestock)

pet-food; pet food; petfood (food prepared for animal pets)

bird feed; bird food; birdseed (food given to birds; usually mixed seeds)

cud; rechewed food (food of a ruminant regurgitated to be chewed again)

mash (mixture of ground animal feeds)

pigswill; pigwash; slop; slops; swill (wet feed (especially for pigs) consisting of mostly kitchen waste mixed with water or skimmed or sour milk)

ensilage; silage (fodder harvested while green and kept succulent by partial fermentation as in a silo)

corn gluten feed (a feed consisting primarily of corn gluten)

cattle cake (a concentrated feed for cattle; processed in the form of blocks or cakes)

creep feed (feed given to young animals isolated in a creep)

fodder (coarse food (especially for livestock) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop)

feed grain (grain grown for cattle feed)

oil cake (mass of e.g. linseed or cottonseed or soybean from which the oil has been pressed; used as food for livestock)

Derivation:

feed (take in food; used of animals only)

feed (serve as food for; be the food for)

• FEED (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Provide as food

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

Feed the guests the nuts

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

cater; ply; provide; supply (give what is desired or needed, especially support, food or sustenance)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sentence example:

They feed the animals

Derivation:

feeding (the act of supplying food and nourishment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give food to

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

feed; give

Context example:

don't give the child this tough meat

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

cater; ply; provide; supply (give what is desired or needed, especially support, food or sustenance)

Cause:

eat (take in solid food)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "feed"):

force-feed (feed someone who will not or cannot eat)

crop; graze; pasture (let feed in a field or pasture or meadow)

range (let eat)

aliment; nourish; nutrify (give nourishment to)

inject (feed intravenously)

bottlefeed (feed (infants) with a bottle)

breastfeed; give suck; lactate; nurse; suck; suckle; wet-nurse (give suck to)

breakfast (provide breakfast for)

lunch (provide a midday meal for)

overfeed (feed excessively)

malnourish; undernourish (provide with insufficient quality or quantity of nourishment)

corn (feed (cattle) with corn)

regurgitate (feed through the beak by regurgitating previously swallowed food)

slop; swill (feed pigs)

fodder (give fodder (to domesticated animals))

scavenge (feed on carrion or refuse)

dine (give dinner to; host for dinner)

spoonfeed (feed with a spoon)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

They feed the food to the people
They feed the people the food

Antonym:

starve (deprive of food)

Derivation:

feeder (a machine that automatically provides a supply of some material)

feeding (the act of supplying food and nourishment)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Feed into; supply

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

Her success feeds her vanity

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

feeder (a branch that flows into the main stream)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Introduce continuously

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

feed; feed in

Context example:

feed carrots into a food processor

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

enclose; inclose; insert; introduce; put in; stick in (place, fit, or thrust (something) into another thing)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s something with something

Derivation:

feeder (a machine that automatically provides a supply of some material)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Support or promote

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

His admiration fed her vanity

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

advance; boost; encourage; further; promote (contribute to the progress or growth of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Take in food; used of animals only

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

eat; feed

Context example:

What do whales eat?

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

consume; have; ingest; take; take in (serve oneself to, or consume regularly)

Verb group:

eat (take in solid food)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "feed"):

raven (feed greedily)

browse; crop; graze; pasture; range (feed as in a meadow or pasture)

suckle (suck milk from the mother's breasts)

forage (wander and feed)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sentence example:

The animals feed

Derivation:

feed (food for domestic livestock)

feeder (someone who consumes food for nourishment)

feeding (the act of consuming food)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Serve as food for; be the food for

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

This dish feeds six

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

cater; ply; provide; supply (give what is desired or needed, especially support, food or sustenance)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

feed (food for domestic livestock)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Move along, of liquids

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

course; feed; flow; run

Context example:

the Missouri feeds into the Mississippi

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "feed"):

gutter (flow in small streams)

ooze; seep (pass gradually or leak through or as if through small openings)

drain; run out (flow off gradually)

dribble; filter; trickle (run or flow slowly, as in drops or in an unsteady stream)

stream; well out (flow freely and abundantly)

run out; spill (flow, run or fall out and become lost)

pour (flow in a spurt)

run down (move downward)

run off; waste (run off as waste)

eddy; purl; swirl; whirl; whirlpool (flow in a circular current, of liquids)

circulate (move through a space, circuit or system, returning to the starting point)

surge; tide (rise or move forward)

gush; jet (issue in a jet; come out in a jet; stream or spring forth)

flush (flow freely)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 9

Meaning:

Profit from in an exploitatory manner

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

feed; prey

Context example:

He feeds on her insecurity

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

exploit; work (use or manipulate to one's advantage)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 10

Meaning:

Gratify

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

feast; feed

Context example:

feed one's eyes on a gorgeous view

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

regale; treat (provide with choice or abundant food or drink)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 11

Meaning:

Provide with fertilizers or add nutrients to

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

feed; fertilise; fertilize

Context example:

We should fertilize soil if we want to grow healthy plants

Hypernyms (to "feed" is one way to...):

enrich (make better or improve in quality)

Domain category:

agriculture; farming; husbandry (the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "feed"):

nitrify (treat (soil) with nitrates)

dung (fertilize or dress with dung)

topdress (scatter manure or fertilizer over (land))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They feed the trees

 Context examples 

For answers, Brandon turned to salps, gelatinous filter-feeding invertebrates that suck in water to eat and to propel themselves around the upper 6,500 feet of the ocean.

(Microplastics million times more abundant in the ocean than previously thought, National Science Foundation)

These ALMA observations suggested that there could be little left over to feed a black hole.

(ESO Observations Reveal Black Holes' Breakfast at the Cosmic Dawn, ESO)

They fed into the simulation different rates of phosphine production and extrapolated what a given atmosphere's spectrum of light would look like given a certain rate of phosphine production.

(Poisonous Earthly Molecule May Be Sign of Extraterrestrial Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

But the common race of horses had not so good fortune, being kept by farmers and carriers, and other mean people, who put them to greater labour, and fed them worse.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Researchers fed mice a sugary, high fat diet such that they become obese and then the obese mice were exercised.

(Exercise in pregnancy improves health of obese mothers by restoring their tissues, University of Cambridge)

You are feeding me because everybody else is feeding me and because it is an honor to feed me.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I light a fire, for we have brought supply of wood with us, and she prepare food while I undo the horses and set them, tethered in shelter, to feed.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

They come out to feed about every five to ten days.

(Bedbugs, Environmental Protection Agency)

"Won't come to the hand that's fed 'm all these months," the dog-musher muttered resentfully.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I know that I lounged about the streets, insufficiently and unsatisfactorily fed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)