# feeder
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English feedere, federe, fedare, equivalent to feed +‎ -er.

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /ˈfidɚ/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːdə(ɹ)

### Noun

feeder (plural feeders)
* One who feeds, or gives food to another.
** The participant in feederism who feeds the other (the feedee).
*** 2010, Niall Richardson, Transgressive Bodies:Often similes such as 'soft as velvet' or 'fluffy like a cloud' will be employed and the feeder will describe how he feels he can be lost in the enveloping folds of soft flesh.
* One who feeds, or takes in food.
** c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder, Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day More than the wild-cat; […]
** 1871, George Miller Beard, Eating and Drinking:There are many who are dietarians in theory, but liberal feeders in practice. They suppose or maintain that it is a duty to deny oneself of all luxuries at the table, but practically they take the best that they can get.
* One who, or that which, feeds material into something (especially a machine).
    Coordinate terms: feed, feedbin, hopper
    Hyponyms: barfeed, barfeeder
** 2007, Thomas E. Lightburn, The Shield and the Shark, page 173:When the claxon sounded they immediately stopped what they were doing and uncovered the Oerlikon. Paddy, who was ammunition feeder, stood by while Jock trained the 20mm gun around.
* That which is used to feed.
    a bird feeder
* A tributary stream, especially of a canal.
** 1827, Conrad Malte-Brun, Universal Geography, or A Description of All the Parts of the World, on a New Plan, Edinburgh: Adam Black, volume 6, book 101, 285:The surface of the Balaton and the surrounding marshes is not less than 24 German square miles, or 384 English square miles; its principal feeder is the Szala, but all the water it receives appears inconsiderable relatively to its superficial extent, and the quantity lost in evaporation.
* A branch line of a railway.
** 1942 May-June, Charles E. Lee, “The Brampton Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 140:This line, described as a valuable feeder to the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, was opened on July 8, 1836, and superseded the older wagonway.
** 1959 August, “Talking of Trains: The costs of transport”, in Trains Illustrated, page 346:Another factor to be allowed for in establishing the remunerativeness of a service was its value as a feeder to the rest of the system.
* A transmission line that feeds the electricity for an electricity substation, or for a transmitter.
* (education) Short for feeder school.
* (shipbuilding, navigation) A feeder ship.
* (US, law) A judge whose law clerks are often selected to become clerks for the Supreme Court.
* (baseball, slang, archaic, 1800s) The pitcher.
* (video games, derogatory) A player whose character is killed by the opposing player or team more than once, deliberately or through lack of skills and experience, thus helping the opposing side.
* (obsolete) One who abets another.
** c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], lines 815–818:Go with me; if you like upon report The soil, the profit, and this kind of life, I will your very faithful feeder be, And buy it with your gold right suddenly.
* (obsolete) A parasite.
* (mining) Synonym of blower (“fissure from which firedamp issues”)

#### Derived terms

* barfeeder
* birdfeeder (bird feeder)
* boobfeeder
* bottlefeeder (bottle feeder, bottle-feeder)
* bottom feeder (bottom-feeder)
* breastfeeder
* feeder cattle
* feeder fish
* feeder fund
* feeder head
* feederism
* feeder line
* feederliner
* feeder reservoir
* feeder school
* filter feeder (filter-feeder)
* fluid feeder
* foul feeder
* nonfeeder
* overfeeder
* snake feeder
* underfeeder

#### Translations
### References

* “feeder”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Anagrams

* ferede, reefed, refeed

## Manx
### Etymology

From Middle Irish *figedóir (“weaver”) (compare Irish fíodóir, Scottish Gaelic figheadair), from figid (“weaves, plaits, intertwines”, verb). By surface analysis, fee +‎ -der.

### Noun

feeder m (genitive singular feeder, plural feederyn)
* spider
    Synonym: doo-oallee
* weaver

### References

* Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “figedóir”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language