feed
verb/fiːd/
/fiːd/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they feed | /fiːd/ /fiːd/ |
| he / she / it feeds | /fiːdz/ /fiːdz/ |
| past simple fed | /fed/ /fed/ |
| past participle fed | /fed/ /fed/ |
| -ing form feeding | /ˈfiːdɪŋ/ /ˈfiːdɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] to give food to a person or an animal
- feed somebody/something/yourself Have you fed the cat yet?
- The baby can't feed itself yet (= can't put food into its own mouth).
- feed somebody/something sth It's important to feed children a well-balanced diet.
- He has to be fed liquids through a tube in his stomach.
- feed somebody/something (on) something The cattle are fed (on) barley.
- feed something to somebody/something The barley is fed to the cattle.
- feed somebody/something with something The animals are fed with hay and grass.
Extra ExamplesTopics Animalsa2, Farminga2- Most of the crop is fed to the cattle.
- She fed the children on baked beans and fish fingers.
- Feed the kids and make sure they're in bed by nine.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- properly
- well
- poorly
- …
- help (to)
- afford to
- on
- to
- with
- …
- a mouth to feed
- [intransitive] (of a baby or an animal) to eat food
- Slugs and snails feed at night.
Extra Examples- Egrets and a solitary grey heron were busily feeding.
- The bears feed voraciously in summer and store energy as fat.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- voraciously
- mainly
- mostly
- …
- on
- [transitive] feed somebody to provide food for a person or group of people
- They have a large family to feed.
- There's enough here to feed an army.
- Have they been feeding you well?
- They struggled to feed and clothe the children.
- Having another mouth (= person) to feed can be a strain.
Extra Examples- I can no longer afford to feed my family.
- How can we feed a hungry world?
- The children were poorly fed.
- My grandmother always feeds me well.
- She could barely feed and clothe herself.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- properly
- well
- poorly
- …
- help (to)
- afford to
- on
- to
- with
- …
- a mouth to feed
- [transitive] feed something to give a plant a special substance to make it grow
- Feed the plants once a week.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- properly
- well
- poorly
- …
- help (to)
- afford to
- on
- to
- with
- …
- a mouth to feed
- [transitive, often passive] to give advice, information, etc. to somebody/something
- be fed something We are constantly fed gossip and speculation by the media.
- be fed with something The media were being fed with accusations and lies.
- be fed to somebody Gossip and speculation are constantly fed to us by the media.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- directly
- constantly
- into
- through
- to
- …
- [transitive, usually passive] to supply something to somebody/something
- be fed (by something) The lake is fed by a river.
- A is fed with B The electricity line is fed with power through an underground cable.
- B is fed into A Power is fed into the electricity line through an underground cable.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- directly
- constantly
- into
- through
- to
- …
- [transitive] to put or push something into or through a machine
- feed A (with B) He fed the meter with coins.
- feed B into A He fed coins into the meter.
- The information was fed into the data store.
- feed something into/through something The fabric is fed through the machine.
Extra Examples- Receptors constantly feed information into the system.
- This feeds the paper through to the printer.
- The data is fed directly into a computer.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- directly
- constantly
- into
- through
- to
- …
- [transitive] feed something to satisfy a need, desire, etc. and keep it strong
- For drug addicts, the need to feed the addiction takes priority over everything else.
give/eat food
plant
give advice/information
supply
put into machine
satisfy need
Word OriginOld English fēdan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch voeden and food.
Idioms
See feed in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee feed in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbite the hand that feeds you
- to harm somebody who has helped you or supported you
feed your face
- (informal, usually disapproving) to eat a lot of food or too much food
Check pronunciation:
feed