eat up

present singular third person eats up · participle present eating up · past ate up · participle past eaten up

1. ambitransitiveTo consume completely.

   Dinner is served. Eat up!

   2 more examples

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

   That, as one of my more sceptical industry insiders put it, is because there is a reluctance to commit funds to any of these plans - and we can put the blame firmly on the fact that HS2 is eating up £7bn per year for the whole term of this parliament.

   2026 March 18, Christian Wolmar, “Wales sets example with long-term rail strategy”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 43

2. figurativelyslangtransitiveTo cause (someone) to obsess; to figuratively consume (someone).

   His anger has been eating him up.

3. figurativelytransitiveTo subtract, use up.

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

   1 more example

   The powerful car ate up the miles.

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

4. figurativelyinformaltransitiveTo accept or believe entirely, immediately, and without questioning.

   She ate up everything that her image consultant said.

5. slangtransitiveTo acclaim or praise (someone or something); to consume (absorb information).

   They eat up every book he puts out.

   4 more examples

   There are a number of subsidiary plots and characters that don't ring entirely true, and the ending is straight out of “The Perils of Pauline,” but I ate it all up anyway, because in the last analysis the opera has a kind of honest, disarming sentimentality.

   1977 November 13, Robert Sherman, “Beguiling ‘Devil's Disciple’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2025

   When I was 13 years old and very ill in a hospital, my father gave me a book about a man who went around the world, a Czech . . . . I did not read that book, I ate, I ate it up. I decided then, I too will go around the world, whether by bicycle or boat or on my belly like a snake.

   1992 January 9, John Balzar, quoting Michael Poboronchook, “Russians Lose Their Country on Way to New World […]”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2025

   Without thinking much about “Dead To Me,” I ate it all up quickly during this quarantine time. I love it so much. It’s short, zippy, interesting and twisty without ever being complicated. Is there anything else in this vein that you can recommend?

   2020 June 9, Margaret Lyons, quoting Priya, “What Should I Watch After I’ve Binged ‘Dead to Me’?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Jun 2020

   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.

   2024 July 11, Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Bernstein, Reid J. Epstein, “How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Jul 2024

6. USinformaltransitiveTo find something to be very cute.

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

7. figurativelyslangtransitiveTo go quickly on a route.

   We ate up the road to Pennsylvania.

   1 more example

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

8. slangtransitiveTo be very good at; to succeed at; to smash. (Compare eat and leave no crumbs.)

   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”.

   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

9. informalslangTo completely dominate someone else, especially with a comeback or clapback.

   Girl, you ate him up!