fed
ˈfed 
; feeding
; feeding
1
a
: to give food to
b
: to give as food
2
a
: to furnish something essential to the development, sustenance, maintenance, or operation of
reading feeds the mind
b
: to supply (material to be operated on) to a machine
c(1)
: to insert and deposit (something) repeatedly or continuously
feed quarters into a parking meter
(2)
: to insert and deposit something into (something)
Running out to feed the meter every hour doesn't work, because the meter will not permit more than one hour for a given car.—
T. R. Reid
T. R. Reid3
: to produce or provide food for
5
6
: to supply (a fellow actor) with cues and situations that make a role more effective
7
: to pass a ball or puck to (a teammate) especially for a shot at the goal
2
: to become nourished or satisfied or sustained as if by food
3
a
: to become channeled or directed
b
: to move into a machine or opening in order to be used or processed
1
a
: an act of eating
b
: meal
especially
: a large meal
2
a
: food for livestock
specifically
: a mixture or preparation for feeding livestock
b
: the amount given at each feeding
3
a
: material supplied (as to a furnace or machine)
b
: a mechanism by which the action of feeding is effected
c
: the motion or process of carrying forward the material to be operated upon (as in a machine)
d
: the act or process of feeding a signal (such as an audio or video transmission) to a station for broadcast
also
: the signal being fed
a live satellite feed
e
: an Internet service in which updates from electronic information sources (such as blogs or social media accounts) are presented in a continuous stream
an RSS feed
also
: the information presented by such a service
I changed my settings so that all of my cousin's posts would show up at the top of my feed.
4
: the action of passing a ball or puck to a team member who is in position to score
Examples of feed in a Sentence
Verb
He was too weak to feed himself.
We feed the plants with a special fertilizer twice a week.
We fed the horses with apples, oats, and hay.
The children fed apples to the horses.
These supplies could feed a small army for a week.
He doesn't earn enough to feed a family of four.
helping to feed and clothe poor children
They used the wood to feed the fire.
The streams feed the creek.
The motor is fed by an electrical current.
Noun
There's a jam in the paper feed.
We had to cut off the main power feed.
They're showing a live satellite feed of the event.
Recent Examples on the Web
Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
Hungry birds looking for dozens of squirming caterpillars a day to feed their young can easily find the insects on oak trees.
—Sophie Hartley, IndyStar, 29 Oct. 2025
Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
The subscription offering also includes access to live feeds from the field, an extensive video-on-demand library and several internet-native show formats.
—Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 28 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for feed
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Verb
First, humans have fed on them for millennia, from the Bible and the epic in ancient times to the nineteenth-century novel and the twenty-first-century Marvel franchise.
—Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
Hungry birds looking for dozens of squirming caterpillars a day to feed their young can easily find the insects on oak trees.
—Sophie Hartley, IndyStar, 29 Oct. 2025
Noun
Their characteristic projecting spines serve both as flotation modulators (via a complex process akin to raising and lowering protoplasmic sails) and as masts permitting the cell to extend itself outward into the surrounding water and feed.
—Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
The subscription offering also includes access to live feeds from the field, an extensive video-on-demand library and several internet-native show formats.
—Brian Stelter, CNN Money, 28 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for feed
Cite this Entry
“Feed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feed. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
feed
1 of 2 verb
fed
ˈfed
; feeding
; feeding
1
a
: to give food to
b
: to give as food
c
d
: prey entry 2 sense 1a
—used with on, upon, or off
feeds on insects
2
a
: to supply with something necessary
b
: to supply (material to be operated on) to a machine
c
: to nourish or become nourished as if by food
3
a
: to supply for use
b
: to supply (a signal) to an electronic circuit or to a transmitter for broadcast
feed
2 of 2 noun1
: meal entry 1
especially
: a large meal
2
: food for livestock
3
: a mechanism by which feeding is carried out
4
a
: a signal fed to a transmitter
b
: an Internet service in which updates from electronic information sources (as blogs or social media accounts) are presented in a continuous stream
also
: the information presented by such a service
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