Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Eat \Eat\ ([=e]t), v. t. [imp. {Ate} ([=a]t; 277), Obsolescent &
   Colloq. {Eat} ([e^]t); p. p. {Eaten} ([=e]t"'n), Obs. or
   Colloq. {Eat} ([e^]t); p. pr. & vb. n. {Eating}.] [OE. eten,
   AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D. eten, OHG. ezzan,
   G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. ["a]ta, Dan. [ae]de, Goth. itan, Ir.
   & Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere, Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad. [root]6.
   Cf. {Etch}, {Fret} to rub, {Edible}.]
   1. To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially
      of food not liquid; as, to eat bread. ``To eat grass as
      oxen.'' --Dan. iv. 25.

            They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps.
                                                  cvi. 28.

            The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine.
                                                  --Gen. xli.
                                                  20.

            The lion had not eaten the carcass.   --1 Kings
                                                  xiii. 28.

            With stories told of many a feat, How fairy Mab the
            junkets eat.                          --Milton.

            The island princes overbold Have eat our substance.
                                                  --Tennyson.

            His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.
                                                  --Thackeray.

   2. To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a
      cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to
      cause to disappear.

   {To eat humble pie}. See under {Humble}.

   {To eat of} (partitive use). ``Eat of the bread that can not
      waste.'' --Keble.

   {To eat one's words}, to retract what one has said. (See the
      Citation under {Blurt}.)

   {To eat out}, to consume completely. ``Eat out the heart and
      comfort of it.'' --Tillotson.

   {To eat the wind out of a vessel} (Naut.), to gain slowly to
      windward of her.

   Syn: To consume; devour; gnaw; corrode.

Eating \Eat"ing\, n.
   1. The act of tasking food; the act of consuming or
      corroding.

   2. Something fit to be eaten; food; as, a peach is good
      eating. [Colloq.]

   {Eating house}, a house where cooked provisions are sold, to
      be eaten on the premises.

Source : WordNet®

eating
     n : the act of consuming food [syn: {feeding}]