Verb

(en verb)

To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.

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The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits. He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. Nobody would miss them, he explained .

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03

, author=, volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Pixels or Perish , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}

To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson

, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}

(obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.

(obsolete) To unfold or make visible.

* (John Evelyn) (1620-1706)

The horse-chestnut isready to explain its leaf.

Verb

To ingest; to be ingested.

#(lb) To consume (something solid or semi-solid, usually food) by putting it into the mouth and swallowing it.

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#*

#*:At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat' parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they ' eat the luncheon crumbs.

#*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1

, passage=But Richmond

#(senseid) To consume a meal.

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# To be eaten.

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To use up.

#(lb) To destroy, consume, or use up.

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#*(William Makepeace Thackeray) (1811-1863)

#*:His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.

# To damage, destroy, or fail to eject a removable part or an inserted object.

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#*(Bruce Willis) in the movie (The Last Boy Scout)

#*:No! There's a problem with the cassette player. Don't press fast forward or it eats the tape!

# To consume money or (other instruents of value, such as a token) deposited or inserted by a user, while failing to either provide the intended product or service, or return the payment.

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#*From the movie

#*:Hey! This stupid [soda vending] machine ate my quarter.

To cause (someone) to worry.

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To take the loss in a transaction.

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*From the movie (Midnight Run)

*:I have to have him in court tomorrow, if he doesn't show up, I forfeit the bond and I have to eat the $300,000.

(lb) To corrode or erode.

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To perform oral sex on someone.

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