Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FEED, v.t. [pret. and pp. fed. Sax. fedan; Dan. föder, Sw. foda, to feed and to beget; Goth. fodyan; D. voeden, to feed; G. futter, fodder; füttern, to feed; Norm. foder, to feed and to dig, uniting with feed the L. fodio; Ar. فَطَأَ fata, to feed, and congressus fuit cum fœmina, sæpius concubuit. Class Bd, No. I4. See Father. In Russ. petayu is to nourish; and in W. buyd is food, and bwyta, to eat; Arm. boeta; Ir. fiadh, food, G. weid, pasture.]

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. Once in three years feed your mowing lands. Mortimer.
5. To nourish; to cherish; to supply with nutriment; as, to a 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 old 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. xl.