Etimology
From Middle English fode, foode, from Old English fōda (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōdō, from Proto-Germanic *fōdô (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to guard, graze, feed”). Cognate with Scots fuid (“food”), Low German föde, vöde (“food”), West Frisian fiedsel (“food”), Dutch voedsel (“food”) Danish føde (“food”), Swedish föda (“food”), Icelandic fæða, fæði (“food”), Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (fōdeins, “food”), Latin pānis (“bread, food”), Latin pāscō (“feed, nourish”, verb). Related to fodder, foster.
noun
food (usually uncountable, plural foods)
(uncountable) Any solid substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life.
(countable) A foodstuff.
(uncountable, figuratively) Anything that nourishes or sustains.
(uncountable, MLE) Any illegal substance or illegal substances, drugs.
Examples
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:food
The innkeeper brought them food and drink.
“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”
Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
Synonyms: belly-timber, foodstuff, provender; see also Thesaurus:food
Variation and changes in the trans fatty acid content of different foods, especially in processed foods, further complicate such estimates.
Hyponym: brainfood
The man's inspiring speech gave us food for thought.
Mozart and Bach are food for my soul.
This may prove food to my displeasure.
In this moment there is life and food / For future years.
What kind of things that you have. When I find out don't expect me to stop. I'll come for the P's that you stack. And come for the food that you blot.
I'm so London, I'm so south / Food in the ends like there ain't no drought / Flipz don't talk like he's got no mouth
[Verse 2:Kano]:If you've been shotting in the manor from way back when and you ain't on a kilo ting, I don't wanna hear about cunch and food and tings, man don't do those tings.
Related words
synonyms
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:food
(substance consumed by living organisms): belly-timber (archaic, now only humorous or regional), chow (slang), comestible (formal), eats (slang), feed (for domesticated animals), fodder (for domesticated animals), foodstuffs, grub (informal), nosh (slang), nourishment, provender, scran (dialectal), sustenance, victuals
related terms
feed
fodder