Feed Meaning
/ˈfiːd/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo give (someone or something) food to eat.
verbTo eat (usually of animals).
Sentence Examples
I feed my cat every morning and every evening.
To be an interesting person you have to feed and exercise your mind.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Farmers must ____ their livestock twice a day to keep them healthy.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please do not ____ the animals in the zoo, as it can make them very sick and upset their diet.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English feden, from Old English fēdan (“to feed”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōdijan, from Proto-Germanic *fōdijaną (“to feed”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to guard, graze, feed”). Cognate with West Frisian fiede (“to nourish, feed”), Dutch voeden (“to feed”), Danish føde (“to bring forth, feed”), Swedish föda (“to bring forth, feed”), Icelandic fæða (“to feed”), and more distantly with Latin pāscō (“feed, nourish”, verb) through Indo-European. More at food, fodder.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"If thine enemy hunger, feed him."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 12:20:
"“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;[...]"
— 1726 October 28, [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):
"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,[…]."
— 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
"If we have time we might go on to Brighton, feed at the 'Ship,' and come back in the cool."
— 1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:
"While feeding, the basking shark swims at about two knots per hour, and this enables it to eat and breathe in the same motion."
— 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 89:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Farmers must ____ their livestock twice a day to keep them healthy.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please do not ____ the animals in the zoo, as it can make them very sick and upset their diet.