feed
feed [fēd] verb
fed [fĕd], feeding, feeds
verb, transitive
1. a. To give food to; supply with nourishment: feed the children. b. To provide as food or nourishment: fed fish to the cat.
2. a. To serve as food for: The turkey is large enough to feed a dozen. b. To produce food for: The valley feeds an entire county.
3. a. To provide for consumption, utilization, or operation: feed logs to a fire; feed data into a computer. b. To supply with something essential for growth, maintenance, or operation: Melting snow feeds the reservoirs. c. To distribute [a local radio or television broadcast] to a larger audience or group of receivers by way of a network or satellite.
4. a. To minister to; gratify: fed their appetite for the morbid. b. To support or promote; encourage: His unexplained absences fed our suspicions.
5. To supply as a cue: feed lines to an actor.
6. Sports. To pass a ball or puck to [a teammate], especially in order to score.
verb, intransitive
1. To eat: pigs feeding at a trough.
2. To be nourished or supported: an ego that feeds on flattery.
3. a. To move steadily, as into a machine for processing. b. To be channeled; flow: This road feeds into the freeway.
noun
1. a. Food for animals or birds. b. The amount of such food given at one time.
2. Informal. A meal, especially a large one.
3. The act of eating.
4. a. Material or an amount of material supplied, as to a machine or furnace. b. The act of supplying such material.
5. a. An apparatus that supplies material to a machine. b. The aperture through which such material enters a machine.
6. Distribution of a locally broadcast radio or television program by way of a network or satellite to a larger audience or group of receivers.
idiom.
off [one's] feed
Suffering a lack of appetite; sick: The dog is off its feed this week.
[Middle English feden, from Old English fēdan.]