eater
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈiː.tɚ/
ipa: /ˈiː.ɾɚ/
ipa: /ˈiː.tə/
rhymes: -iːtə(ɹ)
Forms: form: eaters
Etymology: From Middle English eter, etere, etter, from Old English etere; equivalent to eat + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (patient suffix) (food suitable for eating).
Senses: examples: text: "He is the right sort of man for a labourer, but he is a terrible eater, to be sure," thought the farmer.
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 96:
text: "Eaters of human flesh, two things have ye done. First, ye have attacked these strangers, being white men, and would have slain their servant, and for that alone death is your reward."
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
text: Coal-eaters they may have been, but a more willing or harder working Atlantic engine was never designed.
ref: 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, pages 3, 5:
text: I'm a slow but fastidious eater
ref: 1987, Baird Jones, Sexual humor, page 309:
text: Ice cream tastes good to the eater, and has the added advantage of providing a little chill of excitement […]
ref: 1997, James White, The Best Sex of Your Life, page 166:
text: 2001, Cool Sexy Guy, Story: Cheerleading Camp Group: alt.sex
The girls were having lots of fun rolling around on the bed, though Kacie was a much better fingerer and occasional eater.
glosses: A person or animal who eats.
examples: text: The bass is a fine eater.
ref: 1911, Robert Ernest Vernède, The Fair Dominion: A Record of Canadian Impressions, page 98:
text: For the British market, apples are classed as early, mid-season, or late, and subdivided into eaters or cookers.
ref: 2004, Laura Mason, Food Culture in Great Britain, page 94:
glosses: A fruit or other food that is suitable for eating, especially one that is intended to be eaten uncooked.
examples: text: But there are many queen bee configurations in which the debris is neutralized, including placement of a block or eater near the bee's turnaround point, or placing two queen bees in a line or at right angles in various positions and phases.
ref: 1989 October 31, Scott Huddleston, “life: glider guns”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
text: The eater can also destroy a snail, but changes its phase while doing so.
ref: 1997 November 30, David Bell, “Day & Night - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 2/5)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
text: Probably even if it didn't fail catastrophically, any design like this would get stuck in an infinite loop pretty quick, upon hitting its first "cleaner-proof" ash -- an eater pattern that happens to absorb the test reaction without itself being altered.
ref: 2009 January 13, Dave Greene, “Ash”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
topics: cellular-automata
computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A configuration of cells that appears to consume another configuration by gradually causing it to disappear.
Derived terms: ant-eater
anteater
ass-eater
bean-eater
beaneater
beaver-eater
beaver eater
bee-eater
beefeater
Beefeater
berryeater
big eater
binge eater
birdeater
blue-cheeked bee-eater
bolete eater
cake-eater
can-eater
caterpillar eater
centipede-eater
chalk eater
cheese-eater
cheese eater
chickeneater
clay eater
competitive eater
crabeater
crab-eater
crab-eater seal
crayon eater
croweater
crow-eater
crow eater
dogeater
eartheater
eatress
egg-eater
European bee-eater
fig-eater
fireeater
fire-eater
fire eater
flying purple people-eater
flying purple people eater
foreskin eater
foreskin-eater
frogeater
frog-eater
fruit-eater
fruiteater
gnateater
golden sand-eater
grass-eater
grasseater
green bee-eater
Haweater
honeyeater
leafeater
little green bee-eater
lotus-eater
lotus eater
man-eater
maneater
meat-eater
meateater
meat eater
mosquito-eater
opium-eater
picky eater
pie-eater
plantain-eater
plant-eater
plant eater
potato eater
quarter-eater
quiche-eater
rice eater
rice-eater
seedeater
serpent-eater
shiteater
shit-eater
Siamese algae-eater
sin-eater
sin eater
smoke eater
spawn eater
stareater
time eater
toadeater
toad-eater
toad eater
turdeater
turd-eater
useless eater
weedeater
weed eater
Related terms: cooker
trencherman