eat up

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eat up (third-person singular simple present eats up, present participle eating up, simple past ate up, past participle eaten up)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To consume completely.

   He was so hungry that he ate up everything on his plate.

   Dinner is served. Eat up!

2. (transitive, slang, figurative) To cause (someone) to obsess; to figuratively consume (someone).

   His anger has been eating him up.

3. (transitive, figurative) To subtract, use up.

   His behavior has eaten up all the goodwill we felt towards him.

   • 1934, Frank Richards, The Magnet: The Mystery of the Vaults:

     The powerful car ate up the miles.

4. (transitive, figurative, informal) To accept or believe entirely, immediately, and without questioning.

   She ate up everything that her image consultant said.

5. (transitive, slang) To acclaim or praise (someone or something).

   They eat up every book he puts out.

   • 2024 July 11, Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Bernstein, Reid J. Epstein, “How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Onstage at the fund-raiser beside Mr. Obama and Jimmy Kimmel, Mr. Biden laughed along, cracked a joke or two, and slammed the Supreme Court. The audience ate it up.

6. (transitive, US, informal, chiefly of children or pets) To find something to be very cute.

   You're so cute, I could just eat you up!

7. (transitive, slang, figurative) To go quickly on a route.

   We ate up the road to Pennsylvania.

   You're gonna have to eat up the whole way there.

8. (transitive, slang) To be very good at; to succeed at; to smash. (Compare eat and leave no crumbs.)
   • 2023 July 14, Anwaya Mane, ““THEY ATE THAT UP”: BTS’ Jungkook’s fans lavish praise on Bangtan’s maknae and Han So-hee’s crackling chemistry in SEVEN MV”, in Sportskeeda‎^[2]:

     One fan shared a snippet from the music video wherein Jungkook and Han So-hee are drowning in water. Despite the catastrophic situation, the lovers are squabbling with each other. The fan commented: “The laundromat cause they ate that up”.

• chow down
• eat something up with a spoon

• ate up, taupe