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What is the difference between food and feed?

food | feed |

Feed is a synonym of food.

Feed is a related term of food.



In uncountable terms the difference between food and feed

is that food is any substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life while feed is food given to (especially herbivorous) animals.

In countable terms the difference between food and feed

is that food is a foodstuff while feed is a gathering to eat, especially in quantity.

As a verb feed is

to give (someone or something) food to eat.

food

English

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (uncountable) Any substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
      Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • (countable) A foodstuff.
  • (uncountable, figuratively) Anything that nourishes or sustains.
  • Mozart and Bach are food for my soul.
  • * (and other bibiographic particulars) (William Shakespeare)
  • This may prove food to my displeasure.
  • * (and other bibiographic particulars) (William Wordsworth)
  • In this moment there is life and food / For future years.

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "food": raw, cooked, baked, fried, grilled, processed, healthy, unhealthy, wholesome, nutritious, safe, toxic, tainted, adulterated, tasty, delicious, fresh, stale, sweet, sour, spicy, exotic, marine.

    Synonyms

    * (substance consumed by living organisms) bellytimber, chow (slang), comestible (formal), eats (slang), feed (for domesticated animals), fodder (for domesticated animals), foodstuffs, nosh (slang), nourishment, sustenance, victuals * (anything intended to supply energy or nourishment of an entity or idea) brainfood * (foodstuff) bellytimber, foodstuff

    Derived terms

    * cat food * comfort food * dog food * fast food * food bank * food chain * food fight * food for thought * food pyramid * food stamp * foodstuff * foody * health food * junk food * rabbit food * seafood * soul food * whole food

    See also

    * breakfast * brunch * dinner * dunch * lunch, luncheon * meal * supper *

    Statistics

    *

    feed

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) feden, from (etyl) through Indo-European. More at (l), (l).

    Verb

  • (lb) To give (someone or something) food to eat.
  • :
  • *Bible, (w) xii.20:
  • *:If thine enemy hunger, feed him.
  • (lb) To eat (usually of animals).
  • :
  • *
  • *:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶.
  • (lb) To give (someone or something) to (someone or something else) as food.
  • :
  • *2012 December 25 (airdate), (Steven Moffat), The Snowmen'' (''Doctor Who )
  • *:DR SIMEON: I said I'd feed you. I didn't say who to.
  • (lb) To give to a machine to be processed.
  • :
  • :
  • (lb) To satisfy, gratify, or minister to (a sense, taste, desire, etc.).
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
  • *(Richard Knolles) (1545-1610)
  • *:feeding him with the hope of liberty
  • To supply with something.
  • :
  • To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle.
  • :
  • *Mortimer
  • *:Once in three years feed your mowing lands.
  • To pass to.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 28, author=Kevin Darlin, work=BBC
  • , title= West Brom 1-3 Blackburn , passage=Morrison then played a pivotal role in West Brom's equaliser, powering through the middle and feeding Tchoyi, whose low, teasing right-wing cross was poked in by Thomas at the far post}}
  • To create the environment where another phonological rule can apply.
  • :
  • Noun

  • (uncountable) Food given to (especially herbivorous) animals.
  • They sell feed , riding helmets, and everything else for horses.
  • Something supplied continuously.
  • a satellite feed
  • The part of a machine that supplies the material to be operated upon.
  • the paper feed of a printer
  • (countable) A gathering to eat, especially in quantity
  • They held a crab feed on the beach.
  • (Internet) Encapsulated online content, such as news or a blog, that can be subscribed to.
  • I've subscribed to the feeds of my favourite blogs, so I can find out when new posts are added without having to visit those sites.
    Derived terms
    * atom feed * data feed * live Internet feed * Internet feed * RSS feed, syndication feed * Web feed

    Derived terms

    * bite the hand that feeds one * chicken feed * feed dog * feeding frenzy * feed one's face * feedstock * * misfeed * off one's feed * overfeed * underfeed

    Etymology 2

    + -(e)d