Eat vs. Pat — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Eat and Pat
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Compare with Definitions
Eat
Put (food) into the mouth and chew and swallow it
Eat up all your peas
He was eating a hot dog
She watched her son as he ate
Pat
To tap gently with the open hand or with something flat.
Eat
Light food or snacks
These make great party eats
Pat
To stroke lightly as a gesture of affection.
Eat
To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption.
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Pat
To mold by tapping gently with the hands or a flat implement.
Eat
To take in and absorb as food
A plant that eats insects.
A cell that eats bacteria.
Pat
To run or walk with a tapping sound.
Eat
To include habitually or by preference in one's diet
A bird that eats insects, fruit, and seeds.
Stopped eating red meat on advice from her doctor.
Pat
To hit something or against something gently or lightly.
Eat
To destroy, ravage, or use up by or as if by ingesting
"Covering news in the field eats money" (George F. Will).
Pat
A light gentle stroke or tap.
Eat
To erode or corrode
Waves that ate away the beach.
An acid that eats the surface of a machine part.
Pat
The sound made by a light stroke or tap or by light footsteps.
Eat
To produce by eating
Moths ate holes in our sweaters.
Pat
A small mass shaped by or as if by patting
A pat of butter.
Eat
(Slang) To absorb the cost or expense of
"You can eat your loss and switch the remaining money to other investment portfolios" (Marlys Harris).
Pat
Suitable; fitting
"Suggestions about her reasons for going are made indirectly, lightly and ambiguously.
No pat explanation is offered" (Janna Malamud Smith).
Eat
(Informal) To bother or annoy
What's eating him?.
Pat
Fitting or satisfactory in a superficial or contrived way, especially in being trite or glib
"The dialogue is sometimes stilted and the ending too pat" (Leonard Malkin).
Eat
Vulgar slang To perform cunnilingus or anilingus on. Often used with out.
Pat
(Games) Being a poker hand that is strong enough to make drawing cards unlikely to improve it.
Eat
To consume food.
Pat
Readily or perfectly as a result of memorization or familiarization
They've got the system down pat. He has the lesson pat.
Eat
To have or take a meal.
Pat
The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep
We heard a pat on the door.
Eat
To exercise a consuming or eroding effect
A drill that ate away at the rock.
Exorbitant expenses that were eating into profits.
Pat
A light tap or slap, especially with the hands
Give Mary a pat on the shoulder to get her attention.
Eat
To cause persistent annoyance or distress
"How long will it be before the frustration eats at you?" (Howard Kaplan).
Pat
A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
Eat
To ingest; to be ingested.
Pat
To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.
To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.
Eat
(ambitransitive) To consume (something solid or semi-solid, usually food) by putting it into the mouth and swallowing it.
He's eating an apple. / Don't disturb me now; can't you see that I'm eating?
Pat
To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat
I patted the cookie dough into shape.
Eat
(intransitive) To consume a meal.
What time do we eat this evening?
Pat
To stroke or fondle (an animal).
Do you want to pat the cat?
Eat
To be eaten.
It's a soup that eats like a meal.
Pat
To gently rain.
Eat
To have a particular quality of diet; to be well-fed or underfed (typically as "eat healthy" or "eat good").
Pat
Exactly suitable, fitting, apt; timely, convenient, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken.
A pat expression
Eat
To use up.
Pat
Trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality.
Eat
To destroy, consume, or use up.
This project is eating up all the money.
Pat
Opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
Eat
To consume (an exception, an event, etc.) so that other parts of the program do not receive it.
Pat
Perfectly.
He has the routine down pat.
Eat
To damage, destroy, or fail to eject a removable part or an inserted object.
The VHS recorder just ate the tape and won't spit it out.
John is late for the meeting because the photocopier ate his report.
Pat
To strike gently with the fingers or hand; to stroke lightly; to tap; as, to pat a dog.
Gay pats my shoulder, and you vanish quite.
Eat
To consume money (or other instruments of value, such as a token) deposited or inserted by a user, while failing to either provide the intended product or service or return the payment.
The video game in the corner just ate my quarter.
Pat
A light, quik blow or stroke with the fingers or hand; a tap.
Eat
To cause (someone) to worry.
What's eating you?
Pat
A small mass, as of butter, shaped by pats.
It looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter.
Eat
To take the loss in a transaction.
Pat
Exactly suitable; fit; convenient; timely.
Eat
To be injured or killed by (something such as a firearm or its projectile), especially in the mouth.
Pat
In a pat manner.
I foresaw then 't would come in pat hereafter.
Eat
(ambitransitive) To corrode or erode.
The acid rain ate away the statue.
The strong acid eats through the metal.
Pat
The sound made by a gentle blow
Eat
To perform oral sex (on a person or body part).
Eat me!
I ate his ass.
Yeah, eat that dick / eat that pussy.
Pat
A light touch or stroke
Eat
To be very good; to rule; to rock.
You ate that performance!
Pat
Pat or squeeze fondly or playfully, especially under the chin
Eat
(colloquial) Something to be eaten; a meal; a food item.
Pat
Hit lightly;
Pat him on the shoulder
Eat
To chew and swallow as food; to devour; - said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread.
They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead.
The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine.
The lion had not eaten the carcass.
With stories told of many a feat,How fairy Mab the junkets eat.
The island princes overboldHave eat our substance.
His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.
Pat
Having only superficial plausibility;
Glib promises
A slick commercial
Eat
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.
Pat
Exactly suited to the occasion;
A pat reply
Eat
To take food; to feed; especially, to take solid, in distinction from liquid, food; to board.
He did eat continually at the king's table.
Pat
Completely or perfectly;
He has the lesson pat
Had the system down pat
Eat
To taste or relish; as, it eats like tender beef.
Eat
To make one's way slowly.
Eat
Take in solid food;
She was eating a banana
What did you eat for dinner last night?
Eat
Eat a meal; take a meal;
We did not eat until 10 P.M. because there were so many phone calls
I didn't eat yet, so I gladly accept your invitation
Eat
Take in food; used of animals only;
This dog doesn't eat certain kinds of meat
What do whales eat?
Eat
Use up (resources or materials);
This car consumes a lot of gas
We exhausted our savings
They run through 20 bottles of wine a week
Eat
Worry or cause anxiety in a persistent way;
What's eating you?
Eat
Cause to deteriorate due to the action of water, air, or an acid;
The acid corroded the metal
The steady dripping of water rusted the metal stopper in the sink
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