- food
- food [fo͞od]n.[ME fode < OE foda < IE pāt-, to feed, eat < base * pā-, to pasture cattle > L pastor, pabulum, pascere, to feed, panis, bread]1. any substance taken into and assimilated by a plant or animal to keep it alive and enable it to grow and repair tissue; nourishment; nutriment2. solid substances of this sort: distinguished from DRINK3. a specified kind of food4. anything that nourishes or stimulates; whatever helps something to keep active, grow, etc. [food for thought]adj.1. of or relating to food2. used as foodSYN.- FOOD is the general term for all matter that is taken into the body for nourishment; FARE refers to the range of foods eaten by a particular organism or available at a particular time and place [the fare of horses, a bill of fare]; victuals (see VICTUAL, n. 2) is a dialectal or colloquial word for human fare or diet; provisions (see PROVISION, n. 2 b), in this connection, refers to a stock of food assembled in advance [provisions for the hike ]; RATION refers to a fixed allowance or allotment of food [the weekly ration] and in the plural ( rations) to food in general [how are the rations in this outfit? ]
English World dictionary. V. Neufeldt. 2014.