They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps.
cvi. 28.
The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine.
--Gen. xli.
20.
The lion had not eaten the carcass. --1 Kings
xiii. 28.
With stories told of many a feat, How fairy Mab the
junkets eat. --Milton.
The island princes overbold Have eat our substance.
--Tennyson.
His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.
--Thackeray.
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.
{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.
He did eat continually at the king's table. --2 Sam.
ix. 13.
2. To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef.
{To eat}, {To eat in} or {into}, to make way by corrosion; to
gnaw; to consume. ``A sword laid by, which eats into
itself.'' --Byron.
{To eat to windward} (Naut.), to keep the course when
closehauled with but little steering; -- said of a vessel.