eater

eat +‎ -er

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈiː.tɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈiː.tə/

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• Rhymes: -iːtə(ɹ)

eater (plural eaters)

1. A person who eats.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 96:

     "He is the right sort of man for a labourer, but he is a terrible eater, to be sure," thought the farmer.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     "Eaters of human flesh, two things have ye done. First, ye have attacked these strangers, being white men, and would have slain their servant, and for that alone death is your reward."

   • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, pages 3, 5:

     Coal-eaters they may have been, but a more willing or harder working Atlantic engine was never designed.

   • 1987, Baird Jones, Sexual humor - Page 309

     I'm a slow but fastidious eater

   • 1997, James White, The Best Sex of Your Life - Page 166

     Ice cream tastes good to the eater, and has the added advantage of providing a little chill of excitement […]

   • 2001, Cool Sexy Guy, Story: Cheerleading Camp Group: alt.sex

     The girls were having lots of fun rolling around on the bed, though Kacie was a much better fingerer and occasional eater.

2. A fruit or other food that is suitable for eating, especially one that is intended to be eaten uncooked.

   Hyponym: eating apple

   • 1911, Robert Ernest Vernède, The Fair Dominion: A Record of Canadian Impressions, page 98:

     The bass is a fine eater.

   • 2004, Laura Mason, Food Culture in Great Britain, page 94:

     For the British market, apples are classed as early, mid-season, or late, and subdivided into eaters or cookers.

3. (cellular automata) A configuration of cells that appears to consume another configuration by gradually causing it to disappear.

• cooker
• trencherman

• “eater, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2022.

• areet, arete, arête, ratee, teare