Feed sb.

Also 5–7 fe(e)de. [f. the vb.]

  1.  The action of feeding; eating, grazing; also, the giving of food; an instance of this.

1576.  Turberv., Venerie, 114. If one aske him howe he will terme the feeding of an Hart or such like, in termes of Uenerie, he shall say that it is called the feede of a Deare.

a. 1626.  Bacon, Max. & Uses Com. Law, iv. (1635), 23. I shall not have quantity of pasture answerable to the feed of so many Deere as were upon the ground when I let it.

1628.  Bp. Hall, Contempl. II. viii. As it is in Meats, the long forbearance whereof causes a surfeit, when wee come to full feed: so it fares in the Contentments ofthe Mind.

1686.  J. Goad, Astro-meteorologica, I. ii. 3. Birds coming late from Feed.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, iii. 40. He should pay for the feed of his cow by two hours’ extra work per day.

1873.  W. B. Tegetmeier, Poultry Bk., xxix. 370. Five or six [pellets] are given at one feed for each bird.

  b.  Phrases. At feed: in the act of eating or grazing. Out at feed: turned out to graze. To be off one’s feed (of animals, and colloq. or slang of persons): to have no desire for food; to have lost one’s appetite. (To be) on the feed (said of fish): (to be) on the look out for food; also, (to be) eating.

1621.  Lady M. Wroth, Urania, 275. I like a Deare at feede, start vp for feare.

1680.  Otway, Orphan, V. ix. 2231.

1816.  James, Milit. Dict. (ed. 4), 156. A horse that is off his feed.

1823.  Lamb, Elia (1860), 21. The cattle, and the birds, and the fishes, were at feed about us.

1834.  Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 166. Towards evening he set out on the feed, and began beating in zig-zags (as they do) like a pointer in the search of game.

1862.  Horlock, Country Gentleman, 172. Jack … was quite off his feed.

1867.  F. Francis, Angling, iv. (1880), 108. The fish are well on the feed.

1871.  Browning, Balaust., 1317.

1879.  Moseley, Notes on Challenger, ii. 30. A shoal of porpoises on the feed.

1888.  Berksh. Gloss., s.v. Vead, A horse is said to be ‘out at ve-ad’ when turned into a meadow to graze.

  2.  † a. A grazing or causing (cattle) to graze; also, the privilege or right of grazing (obs.). † b. Feeding-ground; pasture land (obs.). c. Pasturage, pasture; green crops.

1573.  Tusser, Husb., xvi. (1878), 34. Pasture, and feede of his feeld.

1594.  Norden, Spec. Brit., Essex (Camden), 10. Ther is w^tin the Nase … Horsey Ilande, verie good for feede.

1600.  Shaks., As You Like It, II. iv. 83.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 597.

1712.  Prideaux, Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4), 30. The … Feed of the Church yard is the Minister’s.

1795.  Burke, Thoughts Scarcity, Wks. 1842, II. 254. The clover sown last year, where not totally destroyed, gave two good crops, or one crop and a plentiful feed.

1858.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 144. Tall feed, i.e. high grass.

1864.  Tennyson, North. Farmer (Old Style), x. Theer warnt not feäd for a cow.

1879.  Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., s.v. ‘I hanna sid more feed o’ the groun’ fur many a ’ear than is this time, an’ now jest ’allantide.’

1888.  Berksh. Gloss., s.v. Vead, Green crops for sheep, as turnips, swedes, rape, etc., are called ‘ve-ad.’

  3.  Food (for cattle); fodder, provender.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., IV. iv. 93 (Qo.).

1878.  Cumbrld. Gloss., Feed, provender for cattle.

1884.  F. J. Lloyd, Sc. Agric., 243. With the still further development of agriculture, and the necessity of keeping live stock, there arose the necessity of providing them with feed for the winter, and the various kinds of crops becoming by degrees more numerous, the period of rest allowed to the ground became less frequent.

1884.  Milnor (Dakota) Teller, 13 June. J. D. is prepared to grind all kinds of Feed.

  b.  An allowance or meal (of corn, oats, etc.) given to a horse, etc. Also Milit. in short-feed, heavy-horse-feed, light-horse-feed (see quot. 1823).

1735.  Sheridan, in Swift’s Lett. (1768), IV. 117. I can give your horses … a feed of oats now and then.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, XII. xiii. Prepare them [horses] for their journey by a feed of corn.

1823.  Crabb, Technol. Dict. A short feed is a portion less than the regulated quantity. Heavy-horse-feed, a larger proportion given to the heavy dragoons, in distinction from Light-horse-feed, which is given to the hussars and the light horse.

1859.  F. A. Griffiths, The Artillerist’s Manual (ed. 9), 220. One feed of oats in the nose-bag, and buckled to the near-ring of the saddle.

1885.  G. Meredith, Diana, I. viii. 176. The mare ’ll do it well…. She has had her feed.

  4.  colloq. A meal; a sumptuous meal; a feast. Cf. FEAST, SPREAD. Also, a full meal.

1808.  Sporting Mag., XXXII. June, 122/2. These geniuses, Sir, have never been admitted into company that are quite the go, and therefore can stand no chance with us who have a feed now and then at the first tables.

1830.  Southey, in Quarterly Review, XLIII. May, 14. It is the custom to entertain a distinguished visitor with what, in the South Seas, as in modern London, is called a feed.

1839.  Marryat, Diary in Amer., Ser. I. II. 228. ‘Will you have a feed or a check?’—A dinner, or a luncheon?

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xli. (1856), 375. What a glorious feed for the scurvy-stricken ships!

1862.  Sala, Accepted Addr., 193. Snug little feeds preparatory to the grand banquet.

1873.  Chamb. Jrnl., No. 133. 66. Little boys … having a feed of ice-cream.

  5.  The action or process of ‘feeding’ a machine, or supplying material to be operated upon.

1892.  P. Benjamin, Mod. Mech., 663. The Hoe automatic tension brake for graduating the feed of the paper to the exact speed of the machine.

  b.  The material supplied; also the amount supplied; the ‘charge’ of a gun.

1839.  R. S. Robinson, Naut. Steam Eng., 59. A cock by which the engineer can regulate the feed to the quantity required.

1869.  Eng. Mech., 31 Dec., 389/1. By carrying less feed, less power may suffice.

1881.  Knight, Dict. Mech., IV. 330/2. The actual feed to the boiler is regulated by a controlling cock.

1881.  Times, 24 Feb. The time was taken in which the guns could be cleaned and could fire three ‘feeds.’

1883.  Daily News, 12 Dec., 2/5. The length of the feed is determined by the clutch.

  c.  Short for feed-gear, feed-pump, etc.; a feeder.

1839.  R. S. Robinson, Naut. Steam Eng., 139. The water would fall lower and lower in the boiler, if not replaced by the feed.

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 340/2. The oil, by means of a series of jets or gutters, falls in a kind of cascade on the wool as it passes along the ‘feed’ to the teasing cylinder, which revolves at a high speed.

  6.  attrib. and Comb. a. simple attributive, (sense 3 and 3 b) as feed-bag, -crop, -mill (U.S.), -rack; (sense 5) as feed-cock, -hole, -pipe (also feed-pipecock, -strainer, -strum), -pump. b. objective, (sense 3) as feed-crusher, -cutter-; (sense 5) as feed-heating, -roller.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 828/2. *Feed-bag. A nose-bag for a horse or mule, to contain his noon-day feed or luncheon.

1883.  W. C. Russell, Sailors’ Lang., *Feed-cock.—A cock near the bottom of a marine boiler for regulating the supply of water to the boiler.

1891.  Daily News, 14 May, 5/1. *‘Feed’ crops.

1881.  Knight, Dict. Mech., IV. 527/2. *Feed-crusher, a mill for flattening grain to render it more easily masticated. Ibid. (1874), I. 829/1. *Feed-cutter.

1883.  E. Ingersoll, In a Redwood Logging Camp, in Harper’s Mag., LXVI., Jan., 207/1. He grinds all day at the feed-cutter.

1892.  P. Benjamin, Mod. Mech., 284. Power developed without *feed-heating.

1892.  Cooley’s Cycl. Pract. Receipts, I. 300/2. Another complete but empty hive with open *feed-hole, placed below an over-full one.

1884.  Milnor (Dakota) Teller, 13 June. A Steam *Feed-Mill … to grind all kinds of Feed.

1829.  Nat. Philos. (Useful Knowl. Soc.), Hydraulics, ii. 13. The stop-valve, covering the top of the *feed-pipe.

1839.  R. S. Robinson, Naut. Steam Eng., 59. At the end of each feed pipe is a cock.

1849–50.  Weale, Dict. Terms, 182/2. *Feed-pipe cocks, those used to regulate the supply of water to the boiler of a locomotive engine. Ibid., *Feed-pipe strainer, or strum, a perforated, half-spherical piece of sheet iron … placed over the open end of the feed-pipe.

1839.  R. S. Robinson, Naut. Steam. Eng., 109. The engine supplies itself with water by a pump communicating with the hot well, called a *feed pump.

1854.  Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. 273. A small working cylinder of a few inches only in diameter, according to the pressure of the steam, can be placed upon the top of the boiler to work the grate and the feed-pump.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 830/2. *Feed-rack. A stock-feeding device with grain-trough and hay-rack under shelter, which sometimes is extended to the stock also.

1836.  Ure, Cotton Manuf., II. 17. The willowed cotton … is carried forward … to the *feed-rollers [of the blowing machine].

  7.  Special combinations: Feed-apron = feed-cloth; feed-bed, (a) a feeding place (of rats); (b) the level surface along which the supply passes to the machine; feed-cloth, a revolving cloth that carries the cotton or other fiber into a spinning, carding or other machine; feed-door, the door through which the furnace is supplied with fuel; the furnace door; feed-hand (see quot.); feed-head, (a) a cistern of water for supplying the boiler from above; (b) Founding (see quot. 1874); feed-motion, a contrivance for giving a forward movement to material in a machine; feed-rod = feeding-rod; feed-screw (see quot.); feed-tank, -trough, a tank or trough containing a supply of water for a locomotive; a supply trough; feed-wheel (see quot.). Also FEED-WATER.

1836.  Ure, Cotton Manuf., II. 16. The *feed-apron is about eight feet long.

1876.  Forest & Stream, 7 Dec., 278/3. We shortly espy a *‘feed-bed’ in the edge of the marsh.

1889.  Pall Mall G., 15 Oct., 7/1. Each letter in its passage along the feed-bed of the machine strikes a lever.

1836.  Ure, Cotton Manuf., II. 16. The … cotton is … spread upon the *feed-cloth of the cards.

1881.  Knight, Dict. Mech., IV. 327/2. *Feed-door. Ibid. (1874), I. 829/2. *Feed-hand … a rod by which intermittent rotation is imparted to a ratchet-wheel.

1849–50.  Weale, Dict. Terms, 182/2. *Feed head.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech. I. 829/2. Feed head.… The metal above and exterior to the mold which flows into the latter as the casting contracts. Ibid., 830/1. *Feed-motion. The contrivance in a machine by which the material under treatment is advanced. Ibid., 830/2. *Feed-screw. (Lathe.) A long screw employed to impart a regular motion to a tool-rest or to the work; as the feed-screw in the bed of a lathe, which moves the screw-cutting tool.

1889.  G. Findlay, Eng. Railway, 108. A tender picks up water from the feed-trough while in motion.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 831/1. *Feed-wheel. A continuously or intermittingly revolving wheel or disk which carries forward an object or material. Ibid. (1881), IV. 363/1. A plate on the feed wheel holds up the coal when the box is again brought forward.