foodn.
/fuːd/, U.S. /fud/ I. Nourishment.† 4. The act of eating. in food: while eating or feeding. Obsolete.
1.
a. Any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink in order to maintain life and growth; nourishment, provisions. Often with modifier when used in reference to animals, as cat, cattle, dog food, etc.; cf. fodder n. 2a, feed n. 3a. Also with modifier indicating purpose, as comfort, convenience, fast, health, nerve food, etc., or style, as mom, nursery, pub, soul food, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > [noun]
meateOE
eatOE
foodOE
fodderOE
dietc1230
gista1290
victual1303
victualsa1375
preya1382
feedinga1398
pasturea1398
viancea1400
viandsc1400
livingc1405
meatingc1425
vitalyc1440
vianda1450
cates1461
vivers1536
viandry1542
viander1543
gut-matter1549
peck1567
belly-cheer1579
appast1580
manchet1583
chat1584
belly-metal1590
repasture1598
cibaries1599
belly-timber1607
belly-cheat1608
peckage1610
victuallage1622
keeping1644
vivresa1650
crib1652
prog1655
grub1659
beef1661
fooding1663
teething1673
eatablea1687
sunket1686
yam1788
chow-chow1795
keep1801
feed1818
grubbing1819
patter1824
ninyam1826
nyam1828
grubbery1831
tack1834
kai1845
mungaree1846
scoff1846
foodstuff1847
chuck1850
muckamuck1852
tuck1857
tucker1858
hash1865
nosh1873
jock1879
cake flour1881
chow1886
nosebag1888
stodge1890
food aid1900
tackle1900
munga1907
scarf1932
grubber1959
the world > food and drink > food > [noun] > sustenance or nourishment
foodOE
fosterc1000
fodnethOE
flittinga1225
livenotha1225
nourishingc1300
sustenancec1300
livelihoodc1325
nurture1340
fosteringc1386
livingc1405
nouriturea1425
nutriment?a1425
nutrition?a1425
lifehood1440
reliefa1450
nourishmentc1450
nurshingc1450
sustentationc1450
nutrimentc1485
alimenta1500
sustainmenta1500
bielda1522
creature1540
suck1584
mantiniment1588
fosterment1593
the three M's1938
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxix. 258 Þeah ðe se lareow halig beo, hraðe asleacað his tunge to ðære godcundan bodunge, gif he næfð þone lichamlican fodan.
OE Ælfric Interrogationes Sigewulfi in Genesin (Corpus Cambr. 162) xlix, in Anglia (1884) 7 34 On þære oðre fleringe wæs heora nytena foda gelogod.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 11786 He fan-dedd wass Þurrh fodess gluterr-nesse.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 133 He hefde fode [a1250 Nero uode] as feol to him.
c1300 St. Agnes (Laud) l. 29 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 181 (MED) Al þene world he made of nouȝt and ȝaf us ovre fode.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 23084 I was hungre, yee gaf me fode.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 160 (MED) They fynd na fawte of fude to thiere horsez.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 1174 Him moneste..to send..fode for his oste.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) x. 189 Syndri cornys that thai bair Woxe rype to wyn to mannys fude [1489 Adv. fud].
1553 R. Eden tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India sig. Hv v For wante of vitayles & foode, they begonne to famyne.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. xii. 21 Men at their owne home take common foode.
1634 T. Heywood Maidenhead Lost ii, in Wks. (1874) IV. 124 You shall not want nor foode, nor harborage.
1680 E. Waller Of this Transl. in Earl of Roscommon tr. Horace Art of Poetry sig. A4v They [sc. Bees] give us food, which may with Nectar Vie.
1768 G. White Let. 30 Mar. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 43 Worms are their usual food.
1798 T. R. Malthus Ess. Princ. Population i. 11 Food is necessary to the existence of man.
1816 J. Austen Emma I. iii. 38 She..gave the children plenty of wholesome food, let them run about a great deal in the summer, and in winter dressed their chilblains with her own hands.
1860 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing (rev. ed.) vi. 91 A tea-cup full of some article of food.
1889 G. Gissing Nether World I. iii. 51 I should have to hear them children cryin' for food before I could do it.
1918 Times 24 Aug. 9/5 Boots are an essential—as much so as food.
1934 P. Lynch Turf-cutter's Donkey xii. 87 ‘May you never lack fire or food,’ he said, and before she could say ‘Thank you,’ or ‘Good-bye,’ he was racing in the direction of the wood.
2004 Independent (Compact ed.) 19 Jan. 7/1 (headline) Low-cal pet food looms for Britain's fat cats and dogs.
b. spec. Solid nourishment, as opposed to drink.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > [noun] > food opposed to drink
meateOE
foodOE
OE Hymns (Vesp. D.xii) lxxxvi. 2 in H. Gneuss Hymnar u. Hymnen im englischen Mittelalter (1968) 369 Cui et latex prebuit haustum..et prebuerunt satiata mella cum locustis pastum : þam & burna gearcode drenc & gearcodon gefylde huni mid feldwyrtum fodan.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 894 Wið bredes fode and wines drinc.
1577 M. Hanmer tr. Bp. Eusebius in Aunc. Eccl. Hist. ii. xvii. 30 He hath written also, how that in the afore sayde dayes, they lye vpon greene pallets, tasting at all, neither wine, neither any liuinge creature, but their drinke, cleare water, and their foode, bread with salt, and Hyssope.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 161 Some food, we had, and some fresh water. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 119 Simple his Bev'rage; homely was his Food . View more context for this quotation
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. i. ix. 30 Food, Drink, Sleep, and the like animal Enjoyments being what all Men like and love.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. iv. 955 Unrefresh'd with either food or wine.
1838 J. F. Cooper Homeward Bound II. iii. 40 The first report was a scarcity of both food and water. For both these essentials the men had depended on the wreck.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 61 And wine and food were brought.
1923 D. A. Mackenzie Myths China & Japan xvii. 340 When the Babylonian god Adapa, son of Ea, was summoned to appear in the Otherworld, his father warned him not to accept the water and food which would be offered to him.
1952 A. Wilson Hemlock & After ii. iii. 148 The firm of caterers..did creditably in the provision of food and drink.
2003 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 25 Mar. (Good Living section) 19 Black-shirted and pinnied staff whizz about serving food and drinks.
c. Livelihood. Now only in to earn one's (daily) food: to earn a living. Cf. bread n. 4b.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > [noun] > regular occupation, trade, or profession > livelihood
lifeOE
foodOE
livelihoodc1300
livingc1330
ploughc1390
purchasec1475
daily bread1526
being1570
governing1572
shift1572
supportation1576
thrift1579
livelihead1590
thrive1592
breadwinnera1614
subsistence1644
gain1655
bread and butter1691
through-bearing1705
bread1719
bread ticket1801
daily1817
lifehood1823
rice bowl1853
crust1916
OE Will of Bp. Ælfric (Sawyer 1489) in D. Whitelock Anglo-Saxon Wills (1930) 72 Ic gean þæt fen þe Þurlac me sealde into Ælmham þa preostas to foddan [prob. read fodan].
a1300 (?OE) Writ of Edward the Confessor, Westminster (Sawyer 1128) in F. E. Harmer Anglo-Saxon Writs (1952) 350 Ic wille þæt þaet cotlif Molesham þe Leofcild..bequað Crist & Sainte Petre into Westminstre ligge nu þider in to þare munece fodan ellswa he it geuþe.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xviii. l. 19 Peter fysshed for hus fode and hus fere Andreu.
1548 W. Forrest Pleasaunt Poesye 287 in T. Starkey Eng. in Reign King Henry VIII (1878) i. p. xciii Whiche suche maye compell to earne their Fooade.
a1605 A. Montgomerie Sonnets (1887) xlvii He that..to mak faggots for his fuid is fane.
a1677 I. Barrow Of Industry (1693) i. 11 Every man is to work for his food, for his apparel, for all his accommodations, either immediately and directly, or by commutation and equivalence.
1727 J. Hewitt Misc. in Prose & Verse 32 Inur'd to Toil, they, sweating, earn their Food, Content to live in Pain, and ignorantly Good.
1797 Early Blossoms Genius & Virtue 120 Of two brothers, one served the king, the other toiled hard for his food.
1843 C. F. Briggs Haunted Merchant iii, in Bankrupt Stories 23 He had contrived to earn his food by selling penny papers at half profits.
1891 E. A. Allen High-top Sweeting 24 There dwelt in far Japan, Long since, a laboring man Who earned, by hammering stone, his daily food.
1918 J. Masefield Poems & Plays I. 274 Do you propose to earn your daily food?
1999 Catholic Herald 30 July 5/6 (advt.) Living on the platforms of railway stations, under bridges.., they earn their food by rag-picking, collecting paper and bottles from waste-tips or by..sweeping trains and begging.
d. An item of food; a particular kind of food. Chiefly in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > [noun] > an article or kind of food
meateOE
meatkinOE
foodOE
repast?c1500
refection1502
viand1527
sustenance1528
victual1558
cate1634
gustable1642
comestible1799
OE Aldhelm Glosses (Brussels 1650) in L. Goossens Old Eng. Glosses of MS Brussels, Royal Libr. 1650 (1974) 250 Pabulorum : ciborum fodena, pratorum uel herbarum, bileofena.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. l. 744 I you schal reherce, Hou that mi fodes ben diverse.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 303 Hauyng foodis..be we content.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Bvv God sent from heuen a swete fode for their breed called manna.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 33 Beanes..both the Coddes and the stalke, is a foode that cattel muche delightes in.
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice i. 56 In England..we haue so many choices of good foodes.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Turmeric The Indians use it to dye their Rice, and other Foods, of a yellow Colour.
1754 New & Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. II. 1288 Foods proper for preserving health.
?1780 W. Combe tr. J. de Mediolano Œconomy Health 6 Fine pork, rare eggs, and foods of daintier kind.
1809 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 6 ii. 209 The barks of these trees are their principal foods.
1840 W. M. Thackeray Paris Sketch Bk. II. 135 It is a food..which, when it does not revivify, smothers.
1887 Cassell's Family Physician 911 What are the proper fuels, or foods, with which to supply it [sc. the human machine].
1923 P. G. Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xi. 123 If she had knocked off starchy foods and done Swedish exercises for a bit, she might have been quite tolerable.
1938 Amer. Home June 85/2 There are special dining rooms in charge of experienced dietitians where children's foods are temptingly listed on colorful menu cards and attractively served.
1995 Just Seventeen 5 Apr. 53/2 How to tell if you're pregnant... Suddenly finding some foods extra yucky or extra yummy.
e. to be food for (also †to) worms (also dogs, etc.): to be dead (cf. worms' food at worm n. 6c). to be food for fishes: to be drowned. food for powder: soldiers, esp. low-ranking recruits, collectively regarded as expendable in war.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > manner of death > die in specific manner [verb (intransitive)] > die of drowning
adrinkeOE
drunkenc950
drenchc1000
adrenchc1230
drenklec1330
drown1382
fordrench1430
to be food for fishes1561
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > [noun] > collectively > regarded as material
food for powder1598
cannon fodder1847
gun-fodder1900
1561 B. Googe tr. ‘M. Palingenius’ Zodiake of Life (new ed.) vi. sig. Qiv To day with myrthe alyue, and foode to wormes within a whyle.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iv. ii. 65 Good inough to tosse, foode for powder, foode for powder, theile fill a pit as well as better. View more context for this quotation
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 v. iv. 85 Hot. No Percy thou art dust And food for. Pr. For wormes, braue Percy. View more context for this quotation
1682 E. Settle Heir of Morocco i. i. 8 If you but let him stir,..(Observe me well) thou'rt Food for Dogs and Vultures.
1797 M. Robinson Walsingham II. xli. 241 Well, my noble fellow! How are you? You took my prescription? I see you did, you would have been food for worms if you hadn't.
1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. 401 Far from home on the raging sea, in danger of being food for fishes.
1850 N. Hawthorne Scarlet Let. 21 I have heard him smack his lips over dinners, every guest at which, except himself, had long been food for worms.
1875 F. G. Holland in Scribner's Monthly (1879) 8 Mar. 528/1 No new-fledged concern were they, hastily recruited from any ‘rag-tag and bob-tail’ to serve as mere food for powder.
1928 F. M. Ford Last Post v. 122 There was no sense in offering a fellow who might be going to become food for powder the management of great possessions.
1930 PMLA 45 1238 Women die, become food for worms in graves, and are forgotten.
1990 C. R. Johnson Middle Passage (1991) vi. 138 Cringle..crawled back out, his free hand leading two figures I had given up as food for the sharks.
2. figurative.
a. Something providing spiritual, emotional, or mental sustenance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > preservation from injury or destruction > [noun] > preservation in being or maintenance > that which
foodOE
breadc1175
sustainera1325
sustenance?a1430
maintainer1551
sustain1567
aliment?1608
alimony1626
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxv. 231 Gif he hi forlæt buton ðam godspellican fodan on heora andgite, þonne ateoriað hi.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 19780 Forr gastliȝ witt off haliȝ boc. Iss fode to þe sawle.
?c1335 in W. Heuser Kildare-Gedichte (1904) 96 Þe siȝt of him is ure vode.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 29058 (MED) Þou sal it [sc. food] to þe pouer spare, Þat þi fast to saul fode mai falle.
a1425 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Laud) (1884) cxxvii. §2. 446 Trauels..are now fode til soul.
c1450 in F. J. Furnivall Hymns to Virgin & Christ (1867) 14 (MED) God, þou be my strengist fode.
a1513 W. Dunbar Ballat Passioun in Poems (1998) I. 35 His face, the fude of angellis fre.
a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 37 Nuryschyd wyth the spyrytual fode of hys celestyal word.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) iii. iv. 104 My faire sonne, My life, my ioy, my food, my all the world. View more context for this quotation
1713 R. Steele Englishman No. 10. 67 Praise is the Food of a great Soul.
1785 W. Cowper Tirocinium in Task 620 Such is all the mental food purveyed By public hackneys in the schooling trade. View more context for this quotation
1801 W. Wordsworth Sonn. to Liberty i. iv What food Fed his first hopes?
a1861 T. Winthrop Life in Open Air (1863) i. 12 We..lounged upon sofa or tilted in rocking-chair, taking the available mental food, namely, ‘Godey's Lady's Book’ and the Almanac.
1891 Edinb. Rev. July 132 Fiction is the only intellectual food of thousands.
1916 Eng. Jrnl. 5 18 The school library works primarily to lift..the taste of the youth of today, and those living and striving with him from day to day should be responsible for his mental food.
1943 A. Rand Fountainhead iii. vi. 507 Keating drank the sense of their greatness, that spiritual food he sought in coming here, and felt himself rising through them.
1991 Toronto Star (Nexis) 2 Jan. a16 He should be given the Order of the Boot for his goods and services tax on books—man's intellectual food.
b. Something warranting discussion or consideration, or serving as a creative stimulus. Esp. in food for thought.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > topic, subject-matter > [noun] > for thought
food for thought1648
pabulum1708
prog1768
1648 R. Herrick Hesperides sig. Y4 v When Jill complaines to Jack for want of meate; Jack kisses Jill, and bids her freely eate: Jill sayes, of what? sayes Jack, on that sweet kisse, Which full of Nectar and Ambrosia is, The food of Poets.
1756 T. Thomas Hidden Life of Christian (ed. 2) i. 45 My Meditations were mixed with Ejaculations, and the Truths which the Spirit I hope, brought to my Remembrance, afforded me Matter of Enlargement, and Food for Contemplation.
1780 E. Burke Corr. (1844) II. 347 Our own manners afford food enough for poetry.
1825 R. Southey Tale of Paraguay iii. 19 A lively tale, and fraught With..food for thought.
1834 L. Ritchie Wanderings by Seine 83 There the reflective will find food for their meditations.
1900 S. J. Weyman Story Francis Cludde (new ed.) xxi. 246 And if the Duchess and I bore the cold more patiently, it was probably because we had more food for thought—and perhaps thicker raiment.
1936 Discovery Oct. 306/1 The echidna..has provided naturalists with much food for thought.
1996 Dogs in Canada Jan. 19/3 The chapter on the theory of conservation breeding gives food for thought to breeders of purebred dogs.
3. In extended uses.† b. English regional (Yorkshire). Material consisting of the dirt, grease, and loose fibres washed out of sheep's fleeces during processing, used as a fertilizer in agriculture; = shoddy n. 1b. Obsolete.
a. Material for keeping a fire burning.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > [noun]
tindera700
foodOE
eletc1200
firec1300
fuela1398
eldinga1400
firingc1487
betting1521
pabulum1675
fire block1834
fire mixture1855
alternative fuel1906
OE tr. Defensor Liber Scintillarum (1969) x. 110 Incrementum ignis silua et incrementum uentris esca multa : foda fyres holt & foda wambe mete micel.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 119 Hwenne þe rinde is aweie..druȝeð þe boȝes. & wurðeð hwite rondes to nane þinge betere þenne to fures fode.
1574 Certaine Prayers S. Augustines Medit. sig. Aviii O Lord spare me. I am but a rotten carcasse, wormes meate, a stinking coffin, and foode for fire.
1612 J. Davies Muses Sacrifice f. 2v Hels heire, Heau'ns hate, eternall food for Fire.
1657 N. Billingsley Brachy-martyrologia xxii. 79 Then..was he led To execution: and by the way Being urg'd to bow unto a cross, said Nay, The Christians are not wont to worship wood: So having said, he was the fire's food.
1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northants. i. 37 Withal, the Bituminous Matter, that lies scatter'd in it, is a fit Food for Fire.
1799 T. Girdlestone Case of Diabetes 58 A man dies, when in himself, the innate fire of the heart is extinguished or killed...The proper food for this fire is good blood.
1819 C. Grotz Art of making Fireworks 6 Sulphur is by nature the food of fire..and almost in all compositions of fireworks.
1865 G. Punchard Hist. Congregationalism (ed. 2) I. x. 399 If no blood followed the stroke, then they would make the wooden saint food for the fire.
1998 CBS News Transcripts (Nexis) 2 July But the latest cutting-edge high-tech weapons in the battle against the wildfires in California are farm animals. We will show you how goats are gobbling up the food for fire in just a bit.
2006 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 18 July a14 An infestation of bark beetles..has left an abundance of dead trees. ‘It's excellent food for the fire,’ he said. ‘It burns really well.’
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > use of other natural fertilizers > other natural fertilizers
marl1280
pomacec1450
cod's head1545
buck-ashes1563
bucking-ashes1577
guano1604
greaves1614
rape cake1634
muck1660
wool-nipping1669
willow-earth1683
green dressing1732
bone flour1758
bone powder1758
poudrette1764
bone dust1771
green manure1785
fish-manure1788
wassal1797
lime-rubbish1805
Bude sand1808
bone1813
cancerine1840
inch-bones1846
bonemeal1849
silver sand1851
fish guano1857
food1857
terramare1866
kainite1868
fish-flour1879
soil1879
fish-scrap1881
gas lime1882
bean cake1887
inoculant1916
1857 C. B. Robinson in H. Best Rural Econ. in Yorks. Gloss. 183/1 The entire substance that falls on the floor being called ‘shoddy’ or ‘food’, and being sold at a high rate for top-dressing grass land.
c. A substance applied to the skin or hair to maintain or improve its condition. See also skin food n. at skin n. Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the skin or complexion > [noun] > preparations for the skin or complexion > other specific preparations
citrinade?a1439
tetanothrum1519
pencilry1620
petre1672
food1893
skin lightener1923
concealer1942
panstick1948
mattifier1996
1893 Marion (Ohio) Daily Star 21 Apr. Elite facial beautifier, a pure and natural food for the skin, used by those who desire a faultless complexion.
1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 538/3 Squaw hair food.
1941 N. Marsh Death & Dancing Footman ii. 41 A fat lot of good ‘Hersey's Skin Food’ is to your middle-aged charms.
2005 H. Oyeyemi Icarus Girl 213 Her mum's fingers raked globules of hair-food through her hair before plaiting it firmly and a little painfully to her scalp.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > [noun]
meatshiplOE
eatingc1175
dietingc1400
foodc1450
feedingc1475
manducationa1513
bit1523
comestion1595
repast1598
victitation1598
trencheringa1612
cibation1651
oneration1651
esure1657
grubbing1819
noshinga1941
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > [adverb]
in foodc1450
at victualsa1669
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 2 Fayn wald þai here Sum farand þing efter fode to fayn þare her[t].
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) v. i. 84 In food, in sport..To be disturb'd, would mad or man, or beast. View more context for this quotation
5. The substances necessary for plant growth which are absorbed by a plant from the earth and air (or from a host or symbiotic organism), or are synthesized by the plant itself; nutrients. Cf. plant food n. (a) at plant n.1 Compounds 5.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by nutrition or respiration > [noun] > nutriment
food1759
1759 J. Mills tr. H. L. Duhamel du Monceau Pract. Treat. Husbandry i. i. 3 The proper food of the plant.
1762 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. i. iii. 4 The vegetation of plants is promoted by communicating to the earth their food.
1869 H. E. Roscoe Lessons Elem. Chem. (1878) 372 Plants possess the peculiar power of selection, by the roots, of the mineral constituents of food.
1892 Times 4 Jan. 12/1 The nitrogen..is converted into the soluble nitrate of lime, in which form nitrogen enters the systems of plants and thus supplies them with food.
1929 H. A. A. Nicholls & J. H. Holland Text-bk. Trop. Agric. (ed. 2) i. iii. 24 The water that is poured off will be found to be altered in character and taste, for the reason that it has taken up from the soil some of the active or soluble substances used as plant food.
1998 BBC Vegetarian Good Food May 72/2 Plants can take up too much food from these fertilisers, which encourages the soft, sappy growth that pests love.
2002 J. Cohen & I. Stewart Evolving Alien v. 107 Plants make their own food photosynthetically.
6. A child regarded as one who is fed or nurtured. Also in wider sense: a person, a creature. Obsolete.In early use also as a mass noun: offspring; people collectively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > [noun]
hadc900
lifesmaneOE
maneOE
world-maneOE
ghostOE
wyeOE
lifeOE
son of manOE
wightc1175
soulc1180
earthmanc1225
foodc1225
person?c1225
creaturec1300
bodyc1325
beera1382
poppetc1390
flippera1400
wat1399
corsec1400
mortal?a1425
deadly?c1450
hec1450
personagec1485
wretcha1500
human1509
mundane1509
member1525
worma1556
homo1561
piece of flesh1567
sconce1567
squirrel?1567
fellow creature1572
Adamite1581
bloat herringa1586
earthling1593
mother's child1594
stuff1598
a piece of flesh1600
wagtail1607
bosom1608
fragment1609
boots1623
tick1631
worthy1649
earthlies1651
snap1653
pippin1665
being1666
personal1678
personality1678
sooterkin1680
party1686
worldling1687
human being1694
water-wagtail1694
noddle1705
human subject1712
piece of work1713
somebody1724
terrestrial1726
anybody1733
individual1742
character1773
cuss1775
jig1781
thingy1787
bod1788
curse1790
his nabs1790
article1796
Earthite1814
critter1815
potato1815
personeityc1816
nibs1821
somebody1826
tellurian1828
case1832
tangata1840
prawn1845
nigger1848
nut1856
Snooks1860
mug1865
outfit1867
to deliver the goods1870
hairpin1879
baby1880
possum1894
hot tamale1895
babe1900
jobbie1902
virile1903
cup of tea1908
skin1914
pisser1918
number1919
job1927
apple1928
mush1936
face1944
jong1956
naked ape1965
oke1970
punter1975
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > [noun]
bairn830
childOE
foodc1225
whelp?c1225
birtha1325
first-begottenc1384
conceptiona1398
impc1412
heir1413
foddera1425
fryc1480
collop?1518
increase1552
spawn1589
under-bougha1661
prognate1663
chickadee1860
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [noun] > group sharing common inheritance
foodc1225
stock1549
breed1553
race1563
strain1607
c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 52 (MED) Lutel wat meiden..of nurices wecches, ne of hire wasiðes of þet fode fostrunge.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) l. 94 (MED) Þu fedest on hom awel [a1300 Jesus Oxf. a wel] ful fode.
c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) l. 1340 Aþulf þe gode, Min oȝene child, mi leue fode.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 682 Fouxl o flight, and fiss on sand..At his will þai com and ȝode, Als he war fader o þair fode.
a1425 (?c1350) Ywain & Gawain (1964) l. 1621 So fals a fode Was never cumen of kynges blode.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) iii. 578 Men mycht se mony frely fute About ye cost, yar lukand.
?c1500 Mary Magdalene (Digby) l. 942 I have a favorows fode, and fresse as the fakown.
c1560 (a1500) Squyr Lowe Degre (Copland) 364 I may not beleue..My doughter dere he wyll betraye..That fode to long with no foly.
1607 (?a1425) Chester Plays (Harl. 2124) i. 161 We..be of Balaams bloud, That prophesied of that sweet foode.
Compounds
C1.
a.
(a) General attributive.
food cart n.
ΚΠ
1837 J. R. Ames Liberty 142 Sitting right down on the furrows where their food cart happens to overtake them, and making their meal of a bit of corn bread and water.
1919 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 19 470 The wheels of an old stretcher, with a shelf across the bottom, make an excellent food cart, large enough for placing the hot food cans and dishes.
2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 23 Jan. v. 7/1 Food carts selling such favorites as oyster noodles and stinky tofu.
food crank n.
ΚΠ
1888 Daily Huronite (Huron, Dakota Territory) 13 Jan. 2/2 Salt is absolutely necessary to health despite all contrary assertions of the food cranks.
1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse 150 Any Fabian food-crank.
2000 Daily Mail (Nexis) 4 Jan. 2 Once seen as the province of the food crank, organic food is now bought by one in five shoppers.
food faddist n.
ΚΠ
1899 Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.) 16 Sept. 7/4 The latest food faddist affirms that tea and toast is a heathenish compound, responsible for more cases of dyspepsia than can be numbered.
1953 A. Christie Pocket Full of Rye viii. 47 One of those food faddists who'll eat any mortal thing so long as it isn't cooked.
1998 N. Lawson How to Eat (1999) 454 Even diehard opponents of food faddists and anti-fattists have to accept that huge amounts of saturated fats, day-in-day-out, are on the whole unwise.
food guide n.
ΚΠ
1914 Waterloo (Iowa) Evening Courier 16 Feb. 2/4 (advt.) Mrs. Frederick's food guide... It answers the daily problem, ‘What shall we have for dinner?’
1959 Listener 25 June 1105/2 We were using a food guide, compiled by some daring spy who was determined to smoke out tasty food.
1994 Pathways May 37/3 In the graphic representations of Canada's new Food Guide, sweets are lumped with ‘Other Foods’ off to the side of the four food groups.
food habit n.
ΚΠ
1874 Janesville (Wisconsin) Gaz. 13 Nov. This change in the food habits of immense populations was met only partially by the home production of the several countries, and hence a large advance in the prices of meat.
1927 Maclean's 1 June 32/1 Food habits are important.
1994 Clothes Show Mag. May 98/2 But how do you kick bad food habits and develop healthier ones?
food industry n.
ΚΠ
1871 Fortn. Rev. 1 Dec. 643 The many legislative attempts since made to regulate one branch or other of the food-industry, down to the corn-law sliding-scale of odious memory.
2004 F. Lawrence Not on Label ii. 36 The scale of migrant labour in the food industry is much larger than anyone is prepared to acknowledge.
food intake n.
ΚΠ
1898 Australasian Med. Gaz. 20 Sept. 369/1 The food intake will be less, the appetite becomes diminished, nutrition must suffer, and one of the chief agencies of treatment is constantly hampered.
2005 Guardian 6 Aug. (Weekend Suppl.) 19/3 We are held in the grip of fear about our food intake, and eagerly lap up the latest rumour or counter-rumour, or the latest diet.
food pan n.
ΚΠ
1871 H. Alabaster Wheel of Law 149 He..took his food-pan, and went and sat under the shade of the great banyan tree.
1999 Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) (Nexis) 28 June e1 A Siamese crept toward the food pan.
food parcel n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > supply of food or provisions > gift or offering of food > [noun] > food parcel
food parcel1887
1887 Times 29 Jan. 16/3 (advt.) Hundreds of honest families well known to us are at point of starvation. Every pound sent provides 20 substantial food parcels.
1967 Guardian 5 Sept. 7/5 The poorest depending on cash grants and food parcels from Turkey.
2003 Independent 13 Dec. i. 18/6 Once a month, the village receives government food parcels containing basic items such as oil, sugar, rice, beans and milk.
food product n.
ΚΠ
1859 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation (ed. 2) 1204/1 The lentil is closely allied to the tare, and is probably the most ancient of all the food products which man derives from the pea-tribe.
1906 Daily Chron. 5 June 5/4 To enable Government inspectors to supervise, from hoof to can, the preparation of meat food-products.
2000 Big Issue 20 Mar. 22/1 It is illegal to sell and give away any food products past their use-by date.
food queue n.
ΚΠ
1917 Times 7 Aug. 9/5 The illustrations include such varied topics as food queues, munition working, flag selling, messengers waiting for War Loan prospectuses,..besides other typical scenes of England in war-time.
1940 Manch. Guardian Weekly 5 Jan. 3 There is nothing more irksome and more damaging to a smooth-running war system than local shortages and food queues.
1991 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 14 Feb. 14/2 It is the tone one might detect..in a food queue stretching a hundred meters back from the shop door along a snow-swept pavement.
food safety n.
ΚΠ
1912 N.Y. Times 3 Sept. 4 (advt.) The pure food show..begins today. The great annual guide to food safety, variety and economy.
1938 Times 14 May 9 (advt.) A doctor on food safety... ‘Food can..become dangerous to health, without this being obvious to sight, smell or taste.’
2004 National Rev. (New Delhi) Nov. 36/1 The WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, which seeks to establish harmonized standards for ensuring food safety in all countries.
food shortage n.
ΚΠ
1891 Herald-Despatch (Decatur, Illinois) 25 Apr. 2/1 Perhaps the menace of a food shortage may be looked upon as the most powerful argument in favor of the settlement of..difficulties in some other way than by the arbitrament of arms.
1965 M. Hilton tr. J. Meuvret in D. V. Glass & D. E. C. Eversley Population in Hist. xxi. 511 Movements undertaken to escape regions experiencing food-shortage.
2001 B. Geddes World Food: Caribbean 49 In Cuba, tubers have taken on greater importance as a staple during food shortages.
food supply n.
ΚΠ
1684 J. Harington Grecian Story i. 23 Kept by that Clown which brings me Food-supply.
1881 W. D. Hay 300 Years Hence i. 4 Inquiries about..food supply and so on.
1957 P. Worsley Trumpet shall Sound vi. 120 The Japanese organized work-teams..to cultivate huge gardens for their own and the natives' food-supply.
2001 Times 22 Oct. ii. 8/2 The nearest town for food supplies, telephones and post is a two-hour drive away.
food tax n.
ΚΠ
1838 E. Elliott in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 253/2 The food-tax would not exist another week.
1906 Daily Chron. 13 Feb. 4/2 There was something for the Food-taxers also, for..the matter of food-taxes is ‘not a question of principle’.
1991 T. Pakenham Scramble for Afr. xxxii. 598 There were reports of troops raiding villages nearby, to punish them for failing to pay the ‘food tax’—in other words, to do forced labour to provide food for the State.
food ticket n.
ΚΠ
1846 Times 9 Dec. 2/3 The proposal of your committee to give food tickets on every Saturday to labourers whose earnings are not sufficient to support their families.
1937 A. Koestler Spanish Test. ii. 55 The revolutionary committees issued food tickets which the shopkeepers were obliged to honour.
1998 B. Day N. Coward: Compl. Lyrics 88/3 Dancing in that lifeless, exhausted, unsmiling fashion that is common among the young who were reared on food-tickets and were bombed into neurosis.
food truck n.
ΚΠ
1886 Longman's Mag. 7 329 The food-truck which has now for two years been supported by the readers of Longman's Magazine.
1993 Chicago Tribune 29 Jan. iii. 1/4 Like clockwork the strikers drop their signs and line up beside the spiffy new pink and white food truck.
(b) In sense ‘fit or used for food’.
food-bird n. now rare
ΚΠ
1879 H. George Progress & Poverty ii. iii. 116 If he but shoot hawks, food-birds will increase.
1937 A. H. Verrill & O. W. Barrett Foods Amer. Gave World 272 Curassow..are among the best of all tropical American food-birds.
food fish n.
ΚΠ
1858 Chambers's Jrnl. 12 June 372/1 The best food-fishes of other countries—such as the magnificent black bass of Canada.
1948 Times 8 July 5/7 Half a century of intensive study of the stocks of food fishes in European waters has made it possible to estimate with some accuracy the amount which can safely be fished from any area.
2003 Environmental Health Perspectives 111 A457/1 Toxic metals..can work their way into the food chain, killing marine life and..possibly contaminating food fish.
food grain n.
ΚΠ
1857 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 27 Nov. 26/1 A shipment of 270,000 tons of food grain from one small quarter of the Arracan Province.
1953 T. W. Schultz Econ. Organization Agric. xiii. 213 The production of food grain fell 44 per cent; feed grains, 20 per cent; and that of all crops, 10 per cent.
2001 B. K. Das tr. P. Ray Primal Land lxxviii. 224 Vast quantities of foodgrains had been procured to feed the mountain-dwelling tribes.
food plant n.
ΚΠ
1842 Tasmanian Jrnl. 1 151 In the dense myrtle forests of the Colony, the number of food-plants is very limited.
1933 Lancet 8 July 81/1 Many of its most striking or gay markings actually help to blend it with its food plant.
2004 Wildlife News May 18/1 The bogbean is an important food plant for the impressive elephant hawkmoth caterpillar.
food substance n.
ΚΠ
1853 H. Greeley Art & Industry as Represented in Exhib. at Crystal Palace ix. 104 The chemical elements which enter into the composition of food substances are placed together in such proportions that their union is held very loosely together.
1879 tr. E. Haeckel Evol. Man I. viii. 216 The nutritive yolk (vitellus nutritivus, or tropholecithus)..is a mere appendage of the true egg-cell, and contains hoarded food-substance,..so that it forms a sort of storehouse for the embryo in the course of its evolution.
1993 Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 21 Feb. c4/5 If anybody would recognize a delicious shelf-stable food substance, it would be the person responsible for the menu..at a public school.
b. Objective.
food chopper n.
ΚΠ
1897 Enterprise (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 15 Sept. 2/4 (advt.) Call and see our food choppers. They chop every kind of food. Just the thing for chopping all kinds of meat and vegetables, apples, grapes, citron, horseradish, etc.
2001 Washington Times (Nexis) 12 Aug. d4 For added flavor, the children slice strawberries using an egg-slicer and chop Oreo cookies into crumbs using a food chopper.
food-collecting n.
ΚΠ
1880 Philos. Trans. 1879 (Royal Soc.) 171 341 There will be a greater variety of root-distribution, a greater variety in food-collecting capacity, and probably, with these, a greater total capability of such collection.
1911 J. A. Thomson Biol. Seasons iii. 294 The marked shortening of the daylight hours available for food-collecting.
1991 D. Rowe Wanting Everything (1994) 365 A mother..could not adequately fulfil her gathering role in the family economy if she were forced to carry two pre-toddlers with her on food-collecting expeditions.
food gathering n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > [noun] > seeking or acquiring food
food gathering1895
self-catering1909
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > picking or gathering > [noun]
picking1272
pullinga1382
food gathering1895
1895 Atlantic Monthly Nov. 681/1 The silent mother came and went in an endless round of food gathering and delivering.
1926 V. G. Childe Aryans v. 103 Men who had made the great advance from a food-gathering to a food-producing economy.
1979 E. N. K. Clarkson Invertebr. Palaeontol. & Evol. (1982) iii. 42/2 These all have the same kind of food gathering apparatus, known as the lophophore.
2002 Pinedale (Wyoming) Roundup 26 Nov. 4/ Eventually, whether for better food gathering or because climate shifts made the forests thin out, we started spending time in the grasslands.
food-getting n.
ΚΠ
1871 Times 1 Nov. 4/2 We should have seen them..repair the breach in their gallery with as much discipline and division of labour as average human workers in a manufactory before the business of food-getting was resumed.
1941 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man xiv. 278 Practical activities of communal existence such as food-getting and war.
1995 P. Fieldhouse Food & Nutrition (ed. 2) 109 Up until the 1970s food-getting in traditional societies was viewed in the literature primarily in terms of hunting.
food grower n.
ΚΠ
1841 S. Smith in Mem. (1855) II. 457 Neither butcher, nor baker, nor food-grower.
1997 Record (Nexis) 13 Mar. h6 Like enormous ruby teardrops, the glistening fruits of the strawberry plant appear in early June to become the food grower's most cherished cache.
food inspector n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > food taster or tester > [noun] > inspector of food
food inspector1873
mashgiach1901
shomer1909
1873 Christian Union 2 Apr. 276/1 The organization by law of a corps of food inspectors.
1960 News. Chron. 22 Sept. 9/7 A housewife faced a conference of food inspectors..to demand the date-stamping of all perishable foods.
2001 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 May a6/4 Canadian food inspectors found a green fungal growth known as potato wart in a small plot of land.
food-producing adj.
ΚΠ
1804 S. T. Coleridge Marginalia Jan. (1992) III. 807 Acres of food-producing Surface.
1870 W. C. Bryant tr. Homer Iliad II. xiv. 59 Lay one hand Upon the food-producing earth.
1992 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 1 Nov. f10 Root-knot nematodes and other parasitic species attack many ornamental and food-producing plants.
food-taxer n.
ΚΠ
1903 Westm. Gaz. 19 Aug. 5/1 Mr. Arnold-Forster a food-taxer.
2004 Economist (Nexis) 5 June Japan is the champion food-taxer among the rich giants.
food taxing n.
ΚΠ
1903 Times 2 July 15/3 Mr. Chamberlain..raised the hope of old-age pensions once more in connexion with his food-taxing scheme.
1992 Business Wire (Nexis) 4 Nov. A lot of the national food companies joined our campaign because they were afraid the food-taxing fever would spread.
food warmer n.
ΚΠ
1860 Times 19 Nov. 14 (advt.) Clarke's pyramid food warmers, price 6s.
1922 A. Jekyll Kitchen Ess. 74 That long metal food-warmer with spirit lamps known as ‘the Sluggard's Delight’, whereon porridge, coffee, and hot dishes can be kept palatable, is a great help.
2007 Detroit Free Press (Nexis) 28 June The only food warmer the buffet has left is one used for the roast-cutting station.
C2. † food-fit adj. Obsolete rare fit to be used as food.
food additive n. a substance added to food; spec. such an additive used for non-nutritional purposes, so as to improve the colour, flavour, preservation, etc., of food.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > additive > [noun]
food additive1945
additive1950
E number1973
1945 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 Apr. 7 The beverages, baby foods, dextrose sugars, food additives and the manifold uses of alcohol in peace have their origin in malt.
1984 M. Hanssen E for Additives 8 Sugar and salt are perhaps the most common food additives and are very important in the preservation of foods.
2005 Daily Tel. 22 Feb. 21/1 Food scientists have been concerned about the risk of Sudan dyes as an illegal food additive in imported chilli powder.
food aid n. food given as aid to a country or region suffering from a food shortage.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > [noun]
meateOE
eatOE
foodOE
fodderOE
dietc1230
gista1290
victual1303
victualsa1375
preya1382
feedinga1398
pasturea1398
viancea1400
viandsc1400
livingc1405
meatingc1425
vitalyc1440
vianda1450
cates1461
vivers1536
viandry1542
viander1543
gut-matter1549
peck1567
belly-cheer1579
appast1580
manchet1583
chat1584
belly-metal1590
repasture1598
cibaries1599
belly-timber1607
belly-cheat1608
peckage1610
victuallage1622
keeping1644
vivresa1650
crib1652
prog1655
grub1659
beef1661
fooding1663
teething1673
eatablea1687
sunket1686
yam1788
chow-chow1795
keep1801
feed1818
grubbing1819
patter1824
ninyam1826
nyam1828
grubbery1831
tack1834
kai1845
mungaree1846
scoff1846
foodstuff1847
chuck1850
muckamuck1852
tuck1857
tucker1858
hash1865
nosh1873
jock1879
cake flour1881
chow1886
nosebag1888
stodge1890
food aid1900
tackle1900
munga1907
scarf1932
grubber1959
1900 Minutes of Evid. 21 May in Royal Comm. on Admin. Expenditure India III. 297/1 There were no means at that time of carrying food aid to the people when one of these fearful calamities occurred?
1976 A. H. Boerma in A. Cairncross & M. Puri Employm., Income, Distribution, & Devel. Strategy xv. 210 Although individual countries have always helped each other by giving food in emergencies, international food aid on a large scale and as a continuous flow is of relatively recent origin.
2007 Northern Territory News (Darwin) (Nexis) 21 June 17 Israel allowed a food aid shipment into Gaza on Tuesday.
food allergy n. allergy to a foodstuff; an instance of this; (in later use also) an adverse reaction to a particular food attributed to allergic mechanisms.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disordered sensation > [noun] > allergy > other allergies
food allergy1914
barley-itch1928
photoallergy1939
phacoanaphylaxis1948
1914 C. G. Kerley Pract. of Pediatrics 552 In cases caused by antitoxin and food allergy, salicylate of soda (wintergreen) will effect a termination of the symptoms sooner than will any other agent.
1954 Lancet 3 July 30/2 When food-supplies were limited, such indefinite conditions as food allergies and food neuroses posed even more awkward individual problems.
2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 23 Aug. d7/2 Three million schoolchildren have food allergies that could kill them by the time a lifesaving pen is retrieved from someone's office.
food baby n. colloquial a protruding stomach caused by eating a large quantity of food. [So called because it supposedly resembles that of a woman in the early stages of pregnancy.]
ΚΠ
1999 J. Green Mr Maybe xi. 137 ‘But look at this.’ I push my stomach out... Nick recoils in horror. ‘What. Is. That?’..Nick moves closer..and presses one ear against my stomach... He nods sagely. ‘I know exactly what that is. It's a food baby.’
2020 @devyani_mengi 3 July in twitter.com (accessed 3 July 2020) Y'all I ate sm food that now I have a food baby.
food bank n. originally North American a stock of food put aside for use in an emergency or shortage, or donated for use by poor people; (also) an organization which collects and distributes such food.
ΚΠ
1918 McClure's Mag. Dec. 35/2 Surely, even though the food needs of our army and our Allies grow greater, for every measure of food needed.., we can put by an extra measure..for the food bank.
1971 N.Y. Times 29 Nov. 23/1 A large number of those going to the food banks report..that public assistance payments do not provide enough for them to eat adequately.
1982 Times 12 Jan. 6/2 An Asian food bank is needed to improve deteriorating food supplies in Asia and the Pacific.
2004 Philadelphia Inquirer 26 Sept. b1/2 (heading) Food banks are witnessing a surge in the working poor who seek help.
food banking n. North American the action or practice of maintaining a stock of food; the operation of a food bank.
ΚΠ
1913 Amer. Food Jrnl. July 308/1 The fond belief..that all manufacturers have learned wisdom and economy and are consequently eager to employ the efficient machinery of food banking, assembling and distribution.
1998 Indianapolis Star 24 May j14/3 (advt.) Speakers are available to your workplace or organization to provide information about food banking and how you can help alleviate hunger in our community.
food body n. Botany a small nutrient-rich structure developed on the leaves, flowers, or petioles of certain tropical plants to attract ants.
ΚΠ
1876 C. Darwin Effects Cross & Self Fertilisation Veg. Kingdom x. 404 My son Francis has described the microscopical structure and development of these wonderful food-bodies.
1925 J. A. Thomson Concerning Evol. ii. 111 The same peculiar food-bodies occur in some plants not related to acacias, and some of these have also partner-ants.
2002 Functional Ecol. 16 475 Macaranga triloba produces food bodies to nourish mutualistic ants which protect their hosts against herbivores and pathogens.
food-borne adj. (of a disease) carried by or transmitted through contaminated food.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > [adjective] > agent or medium > transmitted by
waterborne1873
blood-borne1885
food-borne1898
louse-borne1919
tick-borne1921
vector-borne1956
1898 Atlanta Constit. 29 May 5/1 The writer does not believe that yellow fever is a water or food borne disease.
1939 Sci. Monthly Jan. 71 The food-borne infections of man—typhoid and dysentery, for example—arise from the ingestion of food, water, milk, etc., to which the causative organism..has gained access and multiplied.
2003 C. Wanjek Bad Med. xvii. 94 Most bacterial infections in the United States are food borne: salmonella, listeria, and E. coli.
food-call n. the cry of a bird for food; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > sound or bird defined by > [noun] > for specific purpose
chuckle1774
chick1821
Valentine1847
food-call1879
nesting-song1879
flight call1937
flight note1937
1879 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 168 109 The nestlings' food call is very peculiar, and can be heard a long way off.
1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (subscribers' ed.) xxxvi. 187 Down the visible wind in the misted valley came the food-call of Turkish bugles.
1994 New Scientist 3 Dec. 43/1 The food call of the fledged young is a loud ‘cacaa’.
food canal n. chiefly Zoology a passage in the body of an animal (now esp. an insect) through which food passes; cf. alimentary canal n. at alimentary adj. and n. Compounds.
ΚΠ
1866 A. E. Sansom Arrest & Prevent. Cholera 114 Its action would likewise be manifested upon the food-canal itself as well as upon its contents.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. ii. 18 In tapeworms the food-canal has disappeared altogether, and the food has to diffuse through the skin.
1954 I. Asimov Chemicals of Life iv. 57 The stomach is one of the wide portions of the food canal. It has muscular walls, which help squeeze the food and mix it well with digestive secretions.
2003 Trends in Microbiol. 11 266 (caption) Viruses are acquired [by a leafhopper] from plant cells through the food canal inside the stylet.
food card n. a card indicating the amount of food allowed to the holder during times of rationing; (also) a card allowing the holder to buy food to the value specified on the card .
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > giving > distributing or dealing out > an allotted share, portion, or part > [noun] > by government or authority > card or coupon of entitlement
ration book1845
meat card1870
ration card1870
ration ticket1871
food card1896
sugar card1917
coupon1918
meat coupon1918
clothing book1943
clothing coupon1943
1896 Times 12 Mar. 13/3 The respondent..issued 500 food cards, but he placed them all in the hands of one man, Mr. Bouchard, and he was a member of the Radical Association.
1923 E. A. Ross Russ. Soviet Republic 114 In the spring of 1920 there were only eight thousand adults in Petrograd who had not taken out food-cards, i.e. had not gone to work.
2005 Fresno (Calif.) Bee (Nexis) 7 Sept. a13 Catholic Charities is accepting donations of clothing for the hurricane survivors and food cards for the purchase of food at grocery stores.
food chemist n. [compare German Nahrungsmittel-Chemiker (1880 or earlier; now Lebensmittelchemiker ); compare food chemistry n.] a food scientist who specializes in the chemical composition and properties of foods.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemistry as a science > general chemist > specific types of chemist > [noun]
proto-chemist1650
zymologist1828
physico-chemist1866
molecularist1869
food chemist1885
thermochemist1890
photochemist1894
physical chemist1896
zymotechnologist1896
radiochemist1917
immunochemist1930
stereochemist1937
polymer chemist1948
radiation chemist1951
kineticist1960
stereologist1963
1885 A. W. Blyth in Leisure Hour Jan. 24/2 A food-chemist..laying down the principles of diet.
1955 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 55 1059/1 (advt.) Vegetables and fruits are grown according to strict specifications laid down by our agricultural experts and food chemists.
1993 S. White in S. H. Mauskopf Chem. Sci. in Mod. World 331 FDA food chemists and pharmacologists jointly developed a method to determine whether the substance..would penetrate the skin of the orange.
food chemistry n. the branch of food science concerned with the chemical composition and properties of foods.In quot. 1860 probably denoting investigations carried out in this field. Food chemistry linked with quality control emerged in the 1870s. [Compare German Nahrungsmittel-Chemie (1883 or earlier; now Lebensmittelchemie ; compare slightly earlier Nahrungsmittel-Chemiker : see food chemist n.), probably after the title of J. König Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genußmittel I. (1879).]
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1860 G. Warriner Let. in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 7 Dec. 49/1 We have not come to the end of our food chemistry.
1888 Appleton's Cycl. Amer. Biogr. IV. 444/1 His process for preventing the crystallization of the butter made possible the commercial success of the product. In the domain of food chemistry his investigations are numerous.
1960 Times 22 Sept. 4/7 Manufacturers took advantage of the advances in food chemistry and by degrees introduced scientific control in their manufacturing operations.
2005 Lancs. Evening Post (Nexis) 6 Sept. I did food chemistry, looking into the chemical compositions of foods and how much people like them.
food colouring n. an agent or ingredient added to food in order to alter its colour, typically to produce a more appetizing or attractive appearance; chiefly as a mass noun.
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the world > food and drink > food > additive > colouring agents > [noun]
saffronc1450
crocus1659
pot marigold1760
browning1769
parsley green1845
butter colour1877
food colouring1887
1887 Pharmaceut. Rec. 1 Sept. 240/1 Those articles which are used as food-coloring and which are deleterious to health are well known.
1924 Citizen (Gloucester, UK) 13 Feb. The committee..will soon put forward certain regulations regarding the use of both preservatives and food colouring.
1960 Times 24 Sept. 10/4 The United Kingdom and other countries have not had the same list of permitted food colourings as Canada.
2004 K. Haedrich Pie 64 Adding a couple of drops of red food coloring to the pie will give it a more rhubarb red color.
food coma n. U.S. colloquial a lethargic state induced by eating, esp. a large quantity of (frequently rich or unhealthy) food.
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1991 Re: Threesome in alt.sex.bondage (Usenet newsgroup) 5 Sept. After dinner, I was feeling sort of restless, and John was in a food coma (Thanksgiving, you know. I'm vegetarian, so I don't get food comas as much—I was restless.).
1994 USA Today (Nexis) 3 Jan. 4 d I eat 1,600 calories a day and 20 to 25 grams of fat except when I'm in New Orleans..where I wake up in a food coma.
2002 Los Angeles Times 24 Jan. t2 The restaurant tab arrives just as the wine and food coma sinks in.
food combining n. a system of eating or dieting based on William Hay's principle that certain foods, esp. carbohydrates and proteins, should not be eaten together, as they are more easily digested separately (see Hay n.7).
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1951 H. Shelton Food Combining made Easy (1982) Introd. 8 Proper food combining..assures better nutrition, as a consequence of better digestion of our foods.
2002 Charlotte (N. Carolina) Observer (Nexis) 4 Feb. 2 e Food-combining diets have gone in and out of style.., but there's no scientific evidence to support the idea that eating certain combinations of foods improves digestion.
food controller n. an official having control of food supplies; (also) an official responsible for verifying the content and quality of food.
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the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > [noun] > supplying food or catering > supplier of food or caterer > official or superintendent of food
bishop1808
food controller1915
1915 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 12 Feb. 12/2 One of the first official acts of the English government after the outbreak of the war was to provide against the heartless greed of the food controllers.
1916 Act 6 & 7 Geo. V c. 68 §3 For the purpose of economising and maintaining the food supply of the country during the present war, it shall be lawful for His Majesty to appoint a Minister of Food under the title of Food Controller.
2002 Baltic News Service (Nexis) 18 Sept. The milk powder in which traces of the substance were found by German food controllers will be returned to the three Estonian dairy companies that supplied them.
food court n. originally U.S. an area in a shopping mall, airport terminal, etc., containing a variety of fast-food outlets and a shared seating area for their customers.
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1979 Los Angeles Times 25 Mar. ix. 16/1 Under that will be a stairway down to the lower level food court.
1992 Industry Week 6 Apr. 74/1 The arena's food court, garage, and some other facilities will be open during non-event times to serve downtown office workers.
2002 Sawubona (S. Afr. Airways In-flight Mag.) Sept. 116/2 The development will include cinemas, food courts, a hotel with 160 luxury rooms and a variety of ‘white knuckle’ rides.
food cycle n. Ecology a system of natural relationships by which organisms in a community depend on each other for food; cf. food web n., food chain n. 1a.
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the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in interrelationship > [noun] > food chain
food cycle1881
food chain1920
food web1932
trophic level1942
trophic chain1946
1881 E. B. Aveling Biol. Discov. & Probl. 87 The Food Cycle. The mineral kingdom is the food supplier to the vegetable kingdom. The majority of plants feed upon inorganic matters, such as carbonic acid, water and ammonia.
1963 J. E. G. Raymont Plankton & Productivity in Oceans xviii. 542 Food cycles in the oceans commence with the synthesis of organic material by the phytoplankton.
2001 Appl. Geochem. 16 1295/2 Some elements..are relatively poorly assimilated by plants, although others..can readily cross the soil-plant barrier and enter the food cycle.
food desert n. British a place in which it is difficult to buy food, esp. a populated area containing few establishments selling cheap, nutritious, fresh food.
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1988 Herald (Austral.) (Nexis) 9 Mar. (Taste section) 8 New Caledonia, surely more of a food desert than anything outside five kilometres from the centre of Melbourne.
1997 Financial Times 13 Mar. 14/5 Some localities have also become ‘food deserts’, where independent shops and street markets have closed and poorer citizens without cars have difficulty reaching the ‘cathedrals of choice’ on the edges of towns, he says.
2002 Economist (Electronic ed.) 19 Jan. Many of these areas in Birmingham are now identified as ‘food deserts’: food retailers have moved out, either to up-market shops in the city centre or to out-of-town supermarkets.
food drive n. originally and chiefly North American a campaign to collect food to be distributed for charity.
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1919 School Rev. 27 796 Clothing and food drives for local charity.
1964 Chicago Defender 28 Nov. 4/1 The Inner City Committee of the Christian Family Movement..is organizing a Diocesan-wide Christmas Food Drive.
2001 Toronto Star 24 June a6/1 The students have organized barbecues, assemblies, food drives, and spirit week activities.
food drop n. a delivery of food supplies by parachute or aircraft, usually as a form of aid.
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1952 J. N. Rentz Marines Central Solomons iv. 104 Arrangements were finally made via radio for a food drop the next day.
1985 Manch. Guardian Weekly (Nexis) 21 July (Le Monde section) 11 A Polish Aid helicopter..had the job of guiding the food drop.
2002 Queensland (Austral.) Pride 2 Feb. 14/6 Should the military be involved in food drops and peacekeeping?
foodfest n. originally U.S. colloquial an occasion of extended or indulgent eating; a festival or celebration of food.
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1911 S. Ford Torchy 34 He's..just squarin' off for a foodfest.
1954 R. H. Luthin Amer. Demagogues ii. 20 He built up the list of Curley voters by doing favors and presiding as host at food fests.
1995 Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 29 Jan. The foodfest has been designed ‘to reinforce Melbourne as the culinary capital of Australia’.
2000 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Mar. 244/1 Whenever they had a problem, they resolved it with a foodfest.
food fight n. originally and chiefly North American an instance of people (usually children or students) throwing food at one another; also figurative.
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1924 S. F. Batchelder Bits of Harvard Hist. 144 The affair began by a food-fight between the freshmen and the sophomores at Sunday evening Commons in 1819: ‘When Nathan threw a piece of bread And hit Abijah on the head, [etc.].’
1952 E. R. Clapp Use of Resources in Educ. i. i. 13 The lunchroom..was a disorderly place, the children..frequently engaging in noisy ‘food fights’.
1993 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Jan. 20/3 Last year, a vast food fight erupted over the Jeffs' policy of charging admission..for the..ceremony.
2007 Prince George (Brit. Columbia) Citizen (Nexis) 14 June 7 It started as most food fights do, with one student hurling part of their lunch at an unsuspecting target.
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the world > food and drink > food > qualities of food > [adjective] > edible
conceivablec1443
serviceablea1475
comestible1483
eatable1483
consumable1547
receptible1574
meatable1577
consumptible1579
devourable1603
food-fit1608
edible1611
manducable1614
esculent1626
cibarious1656
mandible1656
deglutible1661
eduliousa1682
edule1699
swallowable1818
christena1838
touchable1845
munchable1868
gorgeable1883
noshable1966
1608 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iv. 125 As one same ground indifferently doth breed Both food-fit Wheat and dizzie Darnell seed.
food-gatherer n. (a) Zoology a structure used by an animal to obtain food from its surroundings; (b) Cultural Anthropology a person who obtains food from natural sources rather than through agriculture, hunting, etc.
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > picking or gathering > [noun] > picker or gatherer
gathererc1384
picker1611
puller1653
potato-woman1697
food-gatherer1865
ingatherer1878
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > a civilization or culture > [noun] > ancient culture > people of > specific
food-gatherer1865
stone-boiler1865
stone-user1915
hunter-gatherer1938
1865 P. H. Gosse Land & Sea 153 The pseudopodia are food-gatherers as well as instruments of locomotion.
1928 C. Dawson Age of Gods iii. 49 Man was entirely at the mercy of nature—a mere scavenger who eked out a miserable existence as a food-gatherer and an eater of shell-fish.
1998 L. Margulis & K. V. Schwartz Five Kingdoms (ed. 3) iii. 326/1 The pharyngeal gill slits are vascularized and serve as gas exchangers as well as food gatherers.
2003 APT Bull. 34 54/3 A sequence of six dwelling types..that housed cultures from nomadic food-gatherers and hunters to permanent settlers with an economy of surplus agricultural goods.
food-grade adj. originally U.S. of a quality suitable for human consumption, or for use in food production or storage.
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1941 Wall St. Jrnl. 11 Dec. 11/2 Food grade and pharmaceutical vitamin A is derived both from fish oils and from carotene.
1975 Chem. Week (Nexis) 24 Sept. 23 The company has developed a new line of the Sta-Flow compounds for blow molding of food-grade packages.
2007 Internat. Herald Tribune (Nexis) 5 June 16 A small business cheated the system by substituting an inexpensive toxic chemical for food-grade syrup, triggering a mass poisoning in Panama.
food groove n. Zoology (in various aquatic invertebrates) a groove along which food is channelled towards the mouth.
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1889 H. A. Nicholson & R. Lydekker Man. of Palaeontol. (ed. 3) 459 This median groove clearly corresponds with the ‘food-groove’ of the arm and disc of a Crinoid, and may therefore be termed the ‘ambulacral groove’.
1989 S. J. Gould Wonderful Life (1991) 105 Most [marine arthropods] use their walking legs to grasp food particles and pass them forward to the mouth along a food groove situated in the ventral (bottom) mid-line, between the legs.
2003 Biol. Bull. 205 296/2 Particles caught between these two ciliary bands are transported towards the mouth by cilia of the food groove.
food group n. any of a number of categories (now usually four or five) into which foods are classified in various nutritional schemes.
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1884 J. C. Hutchison Laws of Health 214 Are these three food-groups essential to life?.. Will milk sustain life?
1931 Peabody Jrnl. Educ. 8 255 A series of case studies showing..the importance of the proper balance of food groups if maximum health and growth are to be attained.
2006 Philadelphia Inquirer 6 Aug. a14/5 Other 1956 events:..The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces the four basic food groups: meat, dairy, grains, and fruits and vegetables.
food hall n. originally British a section of a department store or shopping complex where groceries, esp. speciality and luxury products, are sold.
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1925 Times 17 Sept. 14/6 (advt.) You are invited to taste..any of the delicious jams, tinned fruits and so forth in Harrods Food Halls.
2006 N.Y. Times Mag. 23 Apr. 10/4 I went to..a giant department store with the biggest food hall I had ever seen.
food hygiene n. conditions or practices in the handling, preparation, and storage of food that minimize food-borne infection.
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1882 H. Endemann tr. N. Gerber Chem. & Physical Anal. Milk, Condensed Milk, & Infants' Milk-foods 2 The author sincerely desires that the contents of this book will not fail to improve our knowledge of food hygiene.
1989 Which? Oct. 487/1 A thumb in the soup isn't actually against Food Hygiene Regulations, unless the waitress has dirty hands.
2002 Epidemiol. & Infection 129 280 Previous studies have focussed on recording the knowledge of food hygiene amongst the general public.
food insecure adj. lacking reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food to meet one's basic dietary needs.
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1977 Daily Rev. (Hayward, Calif.) 5 Dec. 10/6 Right now, these two nations [sc. Canada and Argentina] are curtailing production in a food-insecure world.
1997 M. C. Latham Human Nutrition Developing World (2004) xxxv. 342/1 Households most likely to be food insecure, or at high risk of food insecurity, are the poorest.
2021 Business Day (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 20 May The Home Grown School Feeding Program..is one way that government is..providing meals to school children, particularly those in poor and food-insecure regions.
food insecurity n. the state or condition of not having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food to meet one's basic dietary needs.
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1946 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 9 Mar. 4/5 If you have food insecurity, live remote from land whence comes the food and depend on the scores of distributing and transporting services to get it to you, you may have a subconscious tension.
1997 M. C. Latham Human Nutrition Developing World (2004) xxxv. 342/1 Households most likely to be food insecure, or at high risk of food insecurity, are the poorest.
2021 News Chron. (Nigeria) (Nexis) 10 May In the north [of Nigeria], hundreds of thousands of people have abandoned their hometowns due to inconsistent rainfall, food insecurity, and climate-related conflict between herders and farmers.
food intolerance n. an inability to eat a particular food without an adverse physiological effect (esp. one distinct from an allergic reaction); an instance of this.
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1922 Mansfield (Ohio) News 11 Feb. 4/5 Eggs, shellfish, strawberries, cream, coffee and many other articles are capable of producing all the uncomfortable symptoms of food intolerance.
1958 M. H. Erickson in M. F. DeMartino et al. Understanding Human Motivation xl. 403 A period of life antedating the development of certain food intolerances.
2005 Allergy Apr. 102/2 There is also a monitored juice-fasting program, so if you suffer from a food intolerance or allergy, you can avoid irritants.
food irradiation n. the process of treating food with any of various types of radiation (see irradiation n. 9); (in later use) spec. the exposure of food to ionizing radiation as a method of destroying microorganisms and insects, prolonging shelf life, etc.
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the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > [noun] > method of food preservation
food irradiation1925
irradiation1954
1925 Lancet 6 June 1192/2 While no doubt a great practical future lies with food irradiation it seems improbable that this method can call out all the many reactions which are known to result from direct irradiation of the organism.
1977 Business Week 11 July 38 j/2 So far food irradiation has remained mostly in the laboratory.
2004 S. T. Omaye Food & Nutritional Toxicol. xviii. 261 Currently, farmers lose as much as 30% of their harvest because of pests, and this loss can be reduced by food irradiation.
food lift n. a small lift for carrying food, crockery, etc., between the floors of a building.
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the world > food and drink > food > serving food > [noun] > utensils for serving > food-lift
rising cupboard1833
waiter1833
dumb-waiter1847
dish-lift1859
food lift1888
1888 Times 20 June 17/4 (advt.) They are exceptionally well-planned, having..serving rooms with food lift between morning and dining rooms.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. viii. [Lestrygonians] 162 A diner..stared towards the foodlift.
2005 Evening Standard (Nexis) 21 Dec. 32 The irregular ping of the stainless steel food lifts nearby will be a leitmotif beneath relentless piped music.
food mile n. British (as a unit of measurement) a mile over which a foodstuff is transported on its journey from producer to consumer; usually in plural.
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1993 Independent 23 Oct. (Weekend section) 35/1 Food miles..are part of the supermarket revolution. More than a third of the food we eat these days in Britain is imported. This produces an elongated food chain involving numerous intermediate links—processors, packers, hauliers.
1999 T. Tang in G. Tansey & J. D'Silva Meat Business xii. 131 The food mile was invented to convey these complexities [sc. of food distribution] in a way that could make sense to people.
2002 Express (Nexis) 5 Sept. 51 A pizza may travel a few miles to your door, but its individual ingredients have already travelled 20,000 food miles on average.
food mill n. (a) a mill or factory which processes food; (b) a hand-operated kitchen utensil for puréeing or straining food, having a rotating blade which pushes food through a perforated metal disc (cf. Mouli n.).
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > [noun] > grinder
mortareOE
mortle1570
mill1588
metate1625
potato-mill1812
food mill1857
Moulinette1936
Mouli1937
mouli-légumes1959
moulin à legumes1959
moulin1962
1857 C. Hursthouse New Zealand II. xviii. 595 It may be a thing physically possible to reclaim..such acres, and to turn England into pig-styes and food-mills.
1882 Sanitary Rec. 15 Mar. 389/2 Other food-preparing machinery... Another firm known for making an inexpensive class of food mills..were also present with a selection of these appliances.
1943 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 43 22 (advt.) Mothers save food and energy in starting Baby with the full flavor and food value of properly cooked..vegetables and fruits by straining them through the Foley Baby Size Food Mill.
1998 N. Lawson How to Eat (1999) 90 Purée the tomatoes through a food mill or in a food processor.
2007 Farmer's Weekly (Nexis) 8 June Respectful Eggs are produced..in units using mobile hen houses..and with a food mill nearby to reduce food miles.
food mixer n. an electrical kitchen appliance for mixing, beating, whisking, or kneading ingredients.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > [noun] > mixer
chocolate mill1703
cake mixer1867
mixer1876
electric mixer1900
food mixer1917
mixmaster1930
Osterizer1948
Waring blender1948
liquidizer1950
1917 Waterloo (Iowa) Times-Tribune 4 Aug. 7/4 (advt.) The complete food mixer... Here's a chance to invent a handy little household article for camp and wartime use.
1961 Times 26 Apr. 25/4 Domestic appliances such as..food-mixers.
2003 N. Slater Toast 2 The food mixer..was an ancient, heavy Kenwood that lived in a deep, secret hole in the kitchen work surface.
food pantry n. originally and chiefly North American (a) a pantry used to store food; (b) an organization or establishment which maintains a store of food and other provisions for distribution to people in need (cf. food shelf n. (b)).
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1899 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 7 Nov. 1/7 (advt.) Handsome residence... China and food pantries and back hall with lavatory.
1974 Chicago Defender 28 Sept. 2/2 Most emergency food pantries existing now are on the North side, and they are reportedly swamped with requests for assistance.
1997 Baltimore Jewish Times (Electronic ed.) 18 Apr. 58 Mrs. Wolf installed..cabinets and a food pantry with a lock and key to store Passover dishes and products during the year.
2003 D. Dohan Price of Poverty i. 5 Among the..shops..stood a food pantry that distributed free bags of groceries.
food-pass n. see pass n.4 16.
food poisoning n. illness caused by the presence in food of harmful bacteria or of toxic substances (as bacterial, fungal, or plant toxins, chemical contaminants, etc.).
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders caused by poisons > [noun] > by infected food
beestings1607
raphania1773
food poisoning1856
botulism1858
ergotism1864
sausage-poisoning1876
Gaertner1897
grain-intoxication1897
grain-poisoning1897
tyrotoxism1900
salmonellosis1913
ichthyosarcotoxism1953
Salmonella1962
1856 Lancet 9 Feb. 169/2 (heading) Food poisoning... Some poor persons..who had been taken suddenly ill..had all partaken of cheese bought at the same shop.
1902 Daily Chron. 18 Sept. 3/4 The microbe..discovered by Dr. Klein in the Welbeck food-poisoning cases.
1951 E. W. H. Cruikshank Food & Nutrition (ed. 2) xiv. 285 Food poisoning may also occur..by the ingestion of poisonous plants.
2007 People (Nexis) 12 Aug. (Sport) 14 Four of the Canaries squad had fallen victim to food poisoning following a dodgy barbecue.
food poverty n. the condition of being unable to afford or obtain sufficient food, esp. food which is nutritious enough to meet one's basic dietary needs.Not common in North American usage.In early use probably not a fixed collocation.
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1909 C. E. Woodruff Expansion of Races xi. 157 He gave many details of this food poverty, the overcrowding and the harmful conditions [in tropical climates].
1980 Pakistan Developm. Rev. 19 311 (heading) The analysis of food poverty: an illustration from Kenya.
2015 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 1 June 17 The fact that so many people are increasingly having to turn to them [sc. food banks] is a disgrace in a country as affluent as ours... Central to the problem of food poverty is the continuing cuts to benefits for those out of work and the shocking low levels of pay for many of those in work.
food processor n. an electrical kitchen appliance for chopping, mixing, or puréeing foods.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > [noun] > electric food processor
blender1948
food processor1973
mixie1986
1973 Washington Post 30 Aug. g16/4 A new appliance called Cuisinart is a heavy-duty blender and food processor... It will chop ice or raw meat, slice vegetables, make pastry, puree foods [etc.].
2003 P. Martin Mammoth Bk. Cocktails i. 14 Blend all the ingredients together with ice-cubes in a liquidizer or food processor until smooth or frozen.
food pyramid n. (a) a pyramid-shaped diagram representing the successive levels of a food chain in which the top predator preys upon the next level below, and so on; (b) a pyramid-shaped diagram used in nutrition education showing those foods which should be eaten more sparingly at the top, and in descending order those to be eaten more frequently.
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1932 W. C. Allee Animal Life & Social Growth vi. 89 They are key-industry animals of the tundra and are at the base of the food pyramid not only for the snowy owl but also for arctic wolves and arctic foxes.
1985 E. H. Colbert Wandering Lands & Animals (new ed.) iii. 105 And preying upon them were the different reptiles occupying the upper part of the food pyramid.
1990 Herald (Melbourne) (Nexis) 7 Feb. 11 If you fail the pinch test you'll need to examine your diet in terms of the food pyramid and quite often we find that a little reorganising does the trick.
2006 Wall St. Jrnl. 14 Apr. (Central ed.) w5/3 While the French dine as they please, we battle over the precise design of the government's eat-healthy food pyramid.
food rent n. historical in Anglo-Saxon and feudal times, rent in the form of specified quantities and types of food payable to a lord by a tenant or vassal.
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > hire or rent > rent (land or real property) > [noun] > paid in kind
food rent1875
1875 H. J. S. Maine Lect. Early Hist. Inst. vi. 160 The rent in kind, or food-rent.
1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon Eng. (1963) iv. 176 It was not solely a question of food-rents.
1999 Jrnl. Brit. Stud. 38 417 Badanoth Beotting's wife and children must provide an annual food rent at his anniversary.
food scare n. an instance of widespread public anxiety about the food supply, esp. concerning contamination or shortages.
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1898 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 18 Mar. As a consequence of the food scare, the output of the mines will be curtailed.
1925 Times 5 Mar. 21 Food fads and food scares are constantly cropping up.
1983 Amer. Econ. Rev. 73 236 It was the rapid rise in commodity prices in the early 1970's that gave rise to the world food scare.
2001 Financial Times 27 Jan. (Business Suppl.) 28/1 The popularity of organic food has been boosted by the recent run of food scares.
food science n. the study of the chemical and physical properties of foods and their constituents and of changes that these may undergo during processing, storage, etc.
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1919 Evening Courier & Reporter (Waterloo, Iowa) 14 Oct. 6/5 (advt.) That's Troco—the wholesome, appetizing product which food science has produced from Nature's two great food essentials.
1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. B 6/4 (advt.) Applicants should have a diploma or a degree in Home Economics or Food Science and experience in the formulation of foods.
2003 P. Belton in P. Belton & T. Belton Food, Sci. & Society i. 1 Food science and the value of the contribution of food scientists to the debates on food safety..are under question.
food scientist n. an expert or specialist in food science.
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1893 Chicago Tribune 4 June 30/6 The food scientists of the present day are discovering that the cellulose or woody fiber..has an office to perform in digestion which is not unimportant.
1943 Daily Tel. 23 Oct. 4 As early as 1938 British food scientists began to study methods of dehydrating vegetables, meat and eggs and of storing them in that form.
2006 M. Pollan Omnivore's Dilemma v. 95 When Tyson food scientists devised the chicken nugget in 1983, a cheap bulk commodity—chicken—overnight became a high-value-added product.
food secure adj. having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food to meet one's basic dietary needs.
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1985 Reauthorization Agric. & Food Act 1981: Hearings before Comm. on Agric., Nutrition, & Forestry, Pt. 2 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (99th Congr., 1st Sess.) 642 The leadership clearly remains with the United States in responding to this gap, particularly with reference to establishing..a more food secure world.
2021 Herald (Harare) (Nexis) 6 May We need to promote community seed banks and local seed varieties to help our farmers cope with climate change and become food secure.
food security n. the state or condition of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food to meet one's basic dietary needs.
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1912 Freewoman 9 May 494/2 The importance of this social result, in combining food security with freedom of movement from place to place, can hardly be over-estimated.
1992 Equinox Aug. 90/1 As more land and fuel are devoted to agriculture, food security—the ability to produce enough food of enough types to guard against variable harvests—is falling steadily.
2021 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 19 Mar. (NS19 section) 13 In the food industry, technology is applied to meet the needs of food security globally while ensuring the sustainability of the food supply chain.
food service n. the provision, serving, or preparation of food; the industry concerned with this.
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the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > [noun] > supplying food or catering
vitaillement1453
victualling1534
sutlery1606
opsonation1623
catering1820
food service1847
sutlerage1854
sutlership1864
1847 Times 11 Jan. 6/6 The latter is being rapidly prepared for the food service at this port by the officers and crew.
1938 Jrnl. Home Econ. 30 735/1 Every food service organization..is confronted with 9 fundamental factors that affect efficiency and cost..[including] portion control.
2006 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 23 Aug. 14 We are hoping to meet a variety of people, including restaurateurs, chefs and pretty much anyone who works in food service.
foodshed n. the geographical area in which food for a particular city or population is produced (now chiefly with reference to localized food production). [After watershed n.1 3(b).]
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1929 W. P. Hedden How Great Cities are Fed ii. 17 By analogy [with watersheds], we may conceive of the flow of foodstuffs to consuming markets as determined by foodsheds.
1999 Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press Gaz. (Electronic ed.) 7 Nov. a1 Support local ‘foodsheds’ by expanding the farmers' market and buying locally-produced food.
2007 B. Kingsolver Animal, Veg., Miracle ii. 24 We hoped to establish that a normal-ish American family could be content on the fruits of our local foodshed.
food shelf n. (a) a shelf on which food is stored; (b) North American an organization or establishment which maintains a store of food and other provisions for distribution to people in need (cf. food pantry n. (b)).
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1890 Los Angeles Times 2 Oct. (Pasadena ed.) 7/3 The poison may be found..in pieces of decaying wood of which the food-shelf may be made.
1965 Independent (Pasadena, Calif.) 12 June 3/1 There is a Mothers' Club, a Nursery, a tutoring program, an Emergency Food Shelf,..[etc.].
1974 Times 31 Dec. 3/4 A refrigerator..had decomposing residue on the food shelves.
2006 J. K. Carney Public Health in Action liv. 250 Students listed which local grocery store products could be used by the food shelf during food drives in order to obtain food donations that were healthier.
food-sick adj. rare sick for want of food; (also) longing for a particular type of food.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disordered nutrition > [adjective] > malnourished
food-sick1587
cachectical1625
cachectic1634
malnourished1911
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > hunger > [adjective] > hungry > starving or starved
hungryc950
ofhungeredOE
hungeredc1425
famylousc1475
forhungered1481
hunger-starvena1533
starven1546
hunger-bit1549
hunger-bitten1549
affamished1554
starved1563
starving1581
gaunted1582
famishing1587
food-sick1587
hunger-starving1592
famined1622
gut-foundered1647
hunger-starved1647
starved-gut1653
half-starved1667
clemmed1674
nushed1691
pinch-gutted1704
starve-gutted1726
clemming1773
clung1807
1587 W. Baldwin et al. in J. Higgins Mirour for Magistrates (new ed.) iii. Burdet xxxii When facing foysters fit for Tiburne frayes Are food-sicke faynt.
1917 H. Garland Son of Middle Border xiii. 132 Wild as the tiger's food-sick cry, his warning roar burst forth.
2004 Hindustan Times (Nexis) 26 Nov. Homesick? I am foodsick.
food stamp n. North American a voucher (now often delivered in electronic form) exchangeable for food, sold or given by the government to those on a low income.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > philanthropy > [noun] > social service provided by (local) government > benefit provided by state > specific
sick(ness benefit1875
disability benefit1886
sickness allowance1891
maternity benefit1911
sickness insurance1911
unemployment benefit1933
food stamp1939
attendance allowance1969
unemployment1976
Jobseeker's Allowance1993
1939 Wall St. Jrnl. 7 Mar. 1 (headline) Surplus disposal details announced; plans include issuance of food stamps or certificates of two different types.
1962 Economist 28 Apr. 363/2 The 146,000 certified [American] needy now receiving food-stamps.
1989 Toronto Star 21 Dec. a7 There is some fear that money intended for food could end up going to rent,..and one suggestion being discussed is food stamps.
2007 Washington Post 22 Oct. a23 Hunger activists have been championing improvements in the food stamp program since the last farm bill passed.
food stylist n. Cookery (originally and chiefly North American) (a) a person who cooks in a stylistically interesting manner, a skilled cook (rare); (b) a person engaged in the aesthetic preparation or arrangement of food, esp. for photographs.
ΚΠ
1927 R. H. Platt & R. T. Farnham Bk. Opportunities 377/1 Chef, cuisinier. Food stylist. His value depends on his ingenuity.
1941 Los Angeles Times 26 Oct. iv. 12/5 If you need ideas for food and decorations..guest speakers who will contribute to the program will be Sally Moss Marshall, food stylist, [etc.].
1972 Daily Messenger (Canandaigua, N.Y.) 26 Apr. 10/5 Some of the problems a food stylist faces... She may have to prepare as many as 50 items for an illustration that will contain perhaps 10.
2001 B. Lowry Follow the Blue 41 She's a food stylist. She does stuff like spray oil on mashed potatoes so they look all creamy and yummy in the photo shoots.
food supplement n. a substance taken to supply additional nutrients augmenting those provided by a person's regular diet.
ΚΠ
1924 Science 25 Jan. p. xxi (advt.) Yeast vitamine... Widely used as a food supplement.
1960 F. O'Connor Let. 23 May in Habit of Being (1979) 397 I take something called gerval, geriatric food supplement.
2003 New Scientist 22 Mar. 27/1 A food supplement often used by bodybuilders has been implicated in a health scare.
food taster n. a person employed to sample food that is to be served to someone else (usually a prominent person who fears poisoning) in order to confirm that the food is safe to eat; cf. taster n.1 2.
ΚΠ
1873 A. Gatty Sheffield iii. 49 She was allowed a physician, a secretary, a page, a food-taster, and various menials who attended both on herself and her ladies.
2003 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) May 220/2 Kamel Hannah..worked for Saddam as a bodyguard, food taster, and pimp.
food technologist n. a person qualified or working in the field of food technology.
ΚΠ
1922 H. C. Fuller Story of Drugs ix. 180 What is a calory [sic]? It has been a favorite term in he language of the food technologist.
2006 Hoosier Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 6 Aug. (Herald-Times ed.) a10/1 A food technologist..helps develop ‘enclosures’—the frozen espresso flakes..and cookie ‘crumbles’ that get mixed with ice cream.
food technology n. the application of food science to the development, processing, or preservation of foods; cf. food science n.
ΚΠ
1905 Science 24 Mar. 465/2 It is not a manual of food technology or of food physiology.
2006 M. Pollan Omnivore's Dilemma ix. 140 Such mysteries of modern food technology as high-oleic safflower oil, guar and xanthan gum, soy lecithin, carrageenan, and ‘natural grill flavor’.
food vacuole n. Microbiology a membrane-bound structure occurring inside certain unicellular organisms (as amoebas, sporozoans, etc.) enclosing fluid and food particles for digestion and subsequent release into the cytoplasm.
ΚΠ
1875 H. A. Nicholson Text-bk. Zool. (ed. 2) iii. 47 In the case of the Amoeba, each particle of food generally carries with it a little water, so that the appearance is produced of a number of little clear spaces in the central sarcode. These are now called vacuoles, or food-vacuoles; but they were originally described by Ehrenberg..as so many distinct stomachs.
1960 D. C. Braungart & R. Buddeke Introd. Animal Biol. (ed. 5) iv. 40 The morsel of food together with the accompanying water thus taken into an ameba gives rise to a food vacuole.
2003 Parasitol. Res. 90 249/1 None of the flagellates contained wood fragments in their food vacuoles and so evidently do not participate in the digestion of wood or cellulose.
food value n. value as food; spec. (in dietetics) the relative nourishing power attributed to a type of food. figurative in quot. 1899.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > [noun] > food value
food value1859
fuel-value1886
biological value1915
1859 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 149 574 This table..shows only the relation of fat itself to the nitrogenous compounds,..without any assumptions as to its probable equivalent food-value compared with other substances.
1899 E. G. White Counsel to Editors (1939) xxi. 104 Everything that the imaginative mind can think of is woven into the book, and presented to the world as mental food. But very often it has no food value.
1960 C. Storr Marianne & Mark iii. 35 Aunt Pamela, though..no expert on food values, was immensely keen on providing a good mixed diet.
2004 Wildlife Soc. Bull. 32 959/1 The food value of cereal grains such as wheat and barley may be especially critical for raccoons in early spring.
food-vase n. Archaeology rare = food vessel n.
ΚΠ
1871 Archaeologia 43 385 One of the four food-vases..is ornamented with fine punctures at the bottom.
1963 H. N. Savory in I. L. Foster & L. Alcock Culture & Environment iii. 34 The rim of a Corded Beaker, part of a jar with a rim deeply bevelled internally, which Piggott hailed as a possible ancestor of the southern ‘Food-vase’.
food vessel n. Archaeology a type of early Bronze Age pottery with a coarse texture and geometric ornamentation, found as funerary ware in burial sites in northern Britain and Ireland; (also) attributive denoting the culture characterized by such pottery.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > container for food > [noun]
vessel1340
binc1405
butt1423
pancheon1601
preserving glass1628
conchac1660
pan-mug1688
conch1839
pankin1864
food vessel1866
food-vase1871
kuei1935
caddy1960
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > a civilization or culture > [adjective] > types of prehistoric
food vessel1866
stone-using1870
urnfield1889
hunter-gatherer1928
funnel-beaker1954
1866 Times 24 Oct. 10/3 An urn standing upright was found. This was of the ‘food-vessel’ type, and had four impierced ears.
1871 Archaeologia 43 378 Food vessels are rare in the barrows of Wiltshire and the South of England.
1930 F. Elgee Early Man in N.E. Yorks. viii. 70 Burials in which no pottery was present, but which are nevertheless characteristic of the food-vessel period.
1989 M. Herity & G. Eogan Ireland in Prehistory (new ed.) 133 In Ireland the Food Vessel people lived mainly in the north-east and east of the country.
food web n. Ecology a system of overlapping and interdependent food chains; cf. food cycle n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > organisms in interrelationship > [noun] > food chain
food cycle1881
food chain1920
food web1932
trophic level1942
trophic chain1946
1932 W. C. Allee Animal Life & Social Growth i. 8 At only the second step in what we may call a food-web, we find the black bass related to every class of animals, to many plants and to decaying animal and plant materials in the mud of the lake bottom.
1985 Cambr. Encycl. Life Sci. vii. 185/1 The majority of kelp-forest production enters the food-web in the form of detritus.
2003 Sci. Amer. July 37/2 The various layers of the food web, called trophic levels, are ranked according to how many steps they are removed from the primary producers at the base of the web, which generally consists of phytoplanktonic algae.
food-yolk n. Zoology (now rare) the part of the yolk in an animal egg which provides nutrients for the embryo; the nutritive yolk (cf. yolk n.1 1c).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > reproductive substances or cells > [noun] > ovum or ootid > yolk
yolkeOE
spring1600
vitellary1650
vitellus1728
food-yolk1850
vitellin1857
trophoblast1886
vitelline1891
ovovitellin1906
1850 R. Owen in Med. Times 30 Mar. 232/3 The yolk..is thus seen to consist of a germ-yolk and a food-yolk.
1889 Amer. Naturalist 23 412 The egg of the shrimp, like that of the hen or tortoise consists of a large mass of food-yolk, surrounding..the nucleus.
1926 R. S. Lull Org. Evol. xiii. 203 These posterior cells are generally somewhat larger than the anterior ones, especially in those embryos in which much food-yolk tends to concentrate.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
foodv.
/fuːd/, U.S. /fud/ rare.
transitive. To supply food to; to feed, nourish, support. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feed or nourish [verb (transitive)]
afeedeOE
foddereOE
feedc950
fosterc1175
fooda1225
nourishc1300
nurshc1325
nourishc1384
abechea1393
relievec1425
norrya1450
nurturea1450
pasturec1450
foisonc1485
bield1488
aliment1490
repast1494
nutrifya1500
repatera1522
battle1548
forage1552
nurse1591
substantiate1592
refeed1615
alumnate1656
focillate1656
a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 63 Swa bihoueð þe saule fode mid godes wordes.
a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 48 Pasco, to fode.
c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) iii. l. 52 And with hir corps keuereth hem..And fostrith and fodith, till fedris schewe.
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) f. 92 v The Morning fooding this my feare, to further my deuice.
1658 J. Spencer Καινα και Παλαια 359 In diseases chronicall, the Body becomes lazy, listlesse, neutrall, that it hath no mind to pray, no stomack to food, no heart to do any thing for it selfe.
1686 P. Gordon Diary 10 Feb. (1859) 112 Wee came by daylight to a alehouse.., and here only fooding the horses a litle.., wee dined in the alehouse before Wolmar.
2005 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 13 Mar. 30 I was fooding the cat.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.OE
v.a1225