feed
FEED, v.t. pret. and pp. See Father.
1. To give food to; as, to feed an infant; to feed horses and oxen.
2. To supply with provisions. We have flour and meat enough to feed the army a month.
3. To supply; to furnish with any thing of which there is constant consumption, waste or use. Springs, feed ponds, lakes and rivers; ponds and streams feed canals. Mills are fed from hoppers.
4. To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle If grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep.
5. To nourish; to cherish; to supply with nutriment; as, to feed hope or expectation; to feed vanity.
6. To keep in hope or expectation; as, to feed one with hope.
7. To supply fuel; as, to feed a fire.
8. To delight; to supply with something desirable; to entertain; as, to feed the eye with the beauties of a landscape.
9. To give food or fodder for fattening; to fatten. The county of Hampshire, in Massachusetts, feeds a great number of cattle for slaughter.
10. To supply with food, and to lead, guard and protect; a scriptural sense.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. Is. 40.
FEED, v.i.
1. To take food; to eat.
2. To subsist by eating; to prey. Some birds feed on seeds and berries, others on flesh.
3. To pasture; to graze; to place cattle to feed. Ex. 22.
4. To grow fat.
FEED, n.
1. Food; that which is eaten; pasture; fodder; applied to that which is eaten by beasts, not to the food of men. The hills of our country furnish the best feed for sheep.
2. Meal, or act of eating.
For such pleasure till that hour at feed or fountain never had I found.
feeding
FEEDING, ppr. Giving food or nutriment; furnishing provisions; eating; taking food or nourishment; grazing; supplying water or that which is constantly consumed; nourishing; supplying fuel or incentives.
FEEDING, n. Rich pasture.