ENGLISH
REFERENCE

feed off

idiom
Meaning

To get stimulus from (an external object).


Examples
SIMPLE

The plants feed off the sunlight in the garden.

CONTEXTUAL

The comedian loves a loud crowd because he feeds off their energy during his show.

COMPLEX

The charismatic leader seemed to feed off the growing tension in the room, using the audience's visible anxiety to fuel his increasingly aggressive rhetoric.

Anchors to
Related idioms5entries
  1. 01

    chicken feed

    A very small or insignificant quantity, especially of money.

  2. 02

    feed the dragon

    To outsource (jobs) to the People's Republic of China.

  3. 03

    feed the fire

    Synonym of add fuel to the fire.

  4. 04

    feed the meter

    To place coins into a parking meter or gas meter.

  5. 05

    feed two birds with one scone

    Synonym of kill two birds with one stone.

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