Part 611

His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.

Thackeray.

2. To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to cause to disappear.

To eat humble pie. See under Humble. -- To eat of (partitive use). "Eat of the bread that can not waste." Keble. -- To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the Citation under Blurt.) -- To eat out, to consume completely. "Eat out the heart and comfort of it." Tillotson. -- To eat the wind out of a vessel (Naut.), to gain slowly to windward of her.

Syn. -- To consume; devour; gnaw; corrode.

Eat, v. i. 1. To take food; to feed; especially, to take solid, in distinction from liquid, food; to board.

He did eat continually at the king's table.

2 Sam. ix. 13.

2. To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef.

3. To make one's way slowly.

To eat, To eat in or into, to make way by corrosion; to gnaw; to consume. "A sword laid by, which eats into itself." Byron. -- To eat to windward (Naut.), to keep the course when closehauled with but little steering; -- said of a vessel.

Eat"a*ble (-*b'l), a. Capable of being eaten; fit to be eaten; proper for food; esculent; edible. -- n. Something fit to be eaten.

Eat"age (-j; 48), n. Eatable growth of grass for horses and cattle, esp. that of aftermath.

Eat"er (-r), n. One who, or that which, eats.

Eath (th), a. & adv. [AS. eáðe.] Easy or easily. [Obs.] "Eath to move with plaints." Fairfax.

Eat"ing (?), n. 1. The act of tasking food; the act of consuming or corroding.

2. Something fit to be eaten; food; as, a peach is good eating. [Colloq.]

Eating house, a house where cooked provisions are sold, to be eaten on the premises.

||Eau` de Co*logne" (?). [F. eau water (L. aqua) + de of + Cologne.] Same as Cologne.

||Eau` de vie" (?). [F., water of life; eau (L. aqua) water + de of + vie (L. vita) life.] French name for brandy. Cf. Aqua vitæ, under Aqua. Bescherelle.

Eave"drop` (?), n. A drop from the eaves; eavesdrop. [R.] Tennyson.

Eaves (?), n. pl. [OE. evese, pl. eveses, AS. efese eaves, brim, brink; akin to OHG. obisa, opasa, porch, hall, MHG. obse eaves, Icel. ups, Goth. ubizwa porch; cf. Icel. upsar- dropi, OSw. opsä-drup water dropping from the eaves. Probably from the root of E. over. The s of eaves is in English regarded as a plural ending, though not so in Saxon. See Over, and cf. Eavesdrop.] 1. (Arch.) The edges or lower borders of the roof of a building, which overhang the walls, and cast off the water that falls on the roof.

2. Brow; ridge. [Obs.] "Eaves of the hill." Wyclif.

3. Eyelids or eyelashes.

And closing eaves of wearied eyes.

Tennyson.

Eaves board (Arch.), an arris fillet, or a thick board with a feather edge, nailed across the rafters at the eaves of a building, to raise the lower course of slates a little, or to receive the lowest course of tiles; -- called also eaves catch and eaves lath. -- Eaves channel, Eaves gutter, Eaves trough. Same as Gutter, 1. -- Eaves molding (Arch.), a molding immediately below the eaves, acting as a cornice or part of a cornice. -- Eaves swallow (Zoöl.). (a) The cliff swallow; -- so called from its habit of building retort-shaped nests of mud under the eaves of buildings. See Cliff swallow, under Cliff. (b) The European swallow.

Eaves"drop` (vz"drp`), v. i. [Eaves + drop.] To stand under the eaves, near a window or at the door, of a house, to listen and learn what is said within doors; hence, to listen secretly to what is said in private.