food
n. C / Un. things that people and animals eat to stay alive and grow. It gives your body the energy it needs to work properly.
n. any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth.
We need to buy some fresh food for dinner.
The local market sells a wide variety of organic food grown by farmers in the nearby valley.
Global security depends on the stable production and distribution of food, yet supply chains remain vulnerable to sudden shifts in climate and international trade policy.
From Middle English fode, foode, from Old English fōda (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic fōdō, from Proto-Germanic fōdô (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to guard, graze, feed”). Cognate with Scots fuid (“food”), Low German föde, vöde (“food”), West Frisian fiedsel (“food”), Dutch voedsel (“food”) Danish føde (“food”), Swedish föda (“food”), Icelandic fæða, fæði (“food”), Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (fōdeins, “food”), Latin pānis (“bread, food”), Latin pāscō (“feed, nourish”, verb). Related to fodder, foster.
Uncountable when referring to the general substance; countable when referring to specific types or varieties of cuisine.
- 01
eat one's own dog food
To use or consume the economic goods or services that one is producing; to be part of a closed household economy.
- 02
food baby
A protruding belly resulting from the consumption of a large quantity of food; the contents of one's digestive system causing the protrusion.
- 03
food chain
A hierarchy.