eater
(ˈiːtə(r))
Also 1–5 eter(e, 5 etar.
[f. eat v. + -er.]
1. a. One who eats; also with up, a consumer, devourer, and with object n. prefixed, as bread-eater, flesh-eater.
| a 1000 Prov. 18 (Bosw.) Eteras, commessatores. 1340 Ayenb. 47 Ase byeþ þe mochele drinkeres and eteres. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 267/2 Thou etar of porrete wene thou to take me out of myn hows? 1483 Cath. Angl. 118 An Eter, comestor. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xxxvi. 13 Thou art an eater vp of men, and a waister of thy people. 1625–6 Shirley Maids' Rev. iii. ii, Do I look like a spider-catcher, or toad-eater? 1710 Fuller Tatler No. 205 ¶2, [I] always speak of them with the Distinction of the Eaters, and the Swallowers. 1807 Sir R. Wilson Jrnl. 7 June Life (1862) II. viii. 253 We slept like pudding-eaters. 1837 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (1842) VI. vii. 95 It severs the fruit from the eater. |
| fig. 1829 E. Elliott Vill. Patriarch Notes 179 Unless the bread-tax-eaters can be induced to convene. |
b. with
adj. prefixed, as
great,
moderate, etc.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 37 They are great eaters. 1809 J. C. Moore Camp. Spain 62 He [Sir John Moore] was a very plain and moderate eater. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. III. viii. v. 43 He is no great eater. |
c. transf. Of chemical corrosives.
| 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. cxxx. 432 Litergie, or lime, in lye..are likewise very violent and strong eaters. |
2. A fruit that eats well, or is intended to be eaten uncooked (
cf. cooker 2).
| 1906 N. & Q. V. 156/1 The apples with none, or only small pips, were not so good as eaters or cookers. 1930 Observer 11 May 13/2 The blossom is as thick..on the hardy ‘cooker’ as on the shy and delicate ‘eater’. 1953 E. Hyams Vineyards in England ix. 78 This [grape] is quite a good eater. |
Hence
ˈeatress [see
-ess], a woman who eats.
| 1834 Beckford Italy II. 244, I never beheld eaters or eateresses lay about them with greater intrepidity. 1840 New Month. Mag. LIX. 312 In a salon filled with the insatiable eaters and eatresses of macaroni. |