FEEDER • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Feeder

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/fˈidər/ Listen

noun

Feeder n.

One who, or that which, gives food or supplies nourishment; steward. "A couple of friends, his chaplain and feeder."

One who furnishes incentives; an encourager. "The feeder of my riots."

One who eats or feeds; specifically, an animal to be fed or fattened. "With eager feeding, food doth choke the feeder."

One who fattens cattle for slaughter.

A stream that flows into another body of water; a tributary; specifically (Hydraulic Engin.), a water course which supplies a canal or reservoir by gravitation or natural flow.

A branch railroad, stage line, air route, or the like; a side line which increases the business of the main line.

(Mining)

(a)

A small lateral lode falling into the main lode or mineral vein.

(b)

A strong discharge of gas from a fissure; a blower.

(Mach.) An auxiliary part of a machine which supplies or leads along the material operated upon.

(Steam Engine) A device for supplying steam boilers with water as needed.

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Etymology of 'Feeder'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Feeder" Quotes from Famous Books

... be it noted, is a cross between the porpoise and the cuttle- fish; hence its local name of the porputtle. It is a clean feeder, a great fighter and a great delicacy, tasting rather like a mixture of the pilchard, the anchovy and the ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, September 8th, 1920 • Various

... part of the country where the large water-snail was found, and the snails had brought the bird that feeds on them—the large social marsh hawk, a slate-coloured bird resembling a buzzard in its size and manner of flight. But being exclusively a feeder on snails, it lives in peace and harmony with the other bird inhabitants of the marsh. There was always a colony of forty or fifty of these big hawks to be seen at this spot. A still more interesting bird was the jacana, as it is spelt in books, but pronounced ya-sa-NA by the Indians of Paraguay, ...

— Far Away and Long Ago • W. H. Hudson

... set down at the end where I can watch ye that ye don't fly away. Sorry ye have to set on a box, but there ain't chairs enough to go around. I give the Lieutenant a chair 'cause a box ain't safe for him. He's a big feeder and the box ain't strong. Dip in, folks. Get started. Help yourselves. This ain't ...

— Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders in the Great North Woods • Jessie Graham Flower

... whale-ground, and however much it may invertedly contradict the old proverb about carrying coals to Newcastle, yet sometimes such a thing really happens; and in the present case Captain Derick De Deer did indubitably conduct a lamp-feeder as Flask did declare. ...

— Moby Dick; or The Whale • Herman Melville

... in the pan, of dropping it into the fire, or among the cinders. But "Thorough" was always Dan's motto; and after all, small particles of coal or a few hairs can always be detected by the careful feeder, and removed. ...

— Paul Kelver • Jerome Klapka, AKA Jerome K. Jerome

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