The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Eat \Eat\ ([=e]t), v. t. [imp. Ate ([=a]t; 277), Obsolescent &
   Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. p. Eaten ([=e]t"'n), Obs. or
   Colloq. Eat ([e^]t); p. pr. & vb. n. Eating.] [OE. eten,
   AS. etan; akin to OS. etan, OFries. eta, D. eten, OHG. ezzan,
   G. essen, Icel. eta, Sw. [aum]ta, Dan. [ae]de, Goth. itan,
   Ir. & Gael. ith, W. ysu, L. edere, Gr. 'e`dein, Skr. ad.
   [root]6. Cf. Etch, Fret to rub, Edible.]
   1. To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially
      of food not liquid; as, to eat bread. "To eat grass as
      oxen." --Dan. iv. 25.
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            They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. --Ps.
                                                  cvi. 28.
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            The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine.
                                                  --Gen. xli.
                                                  20.
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            The lion had not eaten the carcass.   --1 Kings
                                                  xiii. 28.
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            With stories told of many a feat,
            How fairy Mab the junkets eat.        --Milton.
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            The island princes overbold
            Have eat our substance.               --Tennyson.
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            His wretched estate is eaten up with mortgages.
                                                  --Thackeray.
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   2. 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.
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   To eat humble pie. See under Humble.

   To eat of (partitive use). "Eat of the bread that can not
      waste." --Keble.

   To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the
      Citation under Blurt.)

   To eat out, to consume completely. "Eat out the heart and
      comfort of it." --Tillotson.

   To eat the wind out of a vessel (Naut.), to gain slowly to
      windward of her.

   Syn: To consume; devour; gnaw; corrode.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Eating \Eat"ing\, n.
   1. The act of tasking food; the act of consuming or
      corroding.
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   2. Something fit to be eaten; food; as, a peach is good
      eating. [Colloq.]
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   Eating house, a house where cooked provisions are sold, to
      be eaten on the premises.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

eating
    n 1: the act of consuming food [syn: eating, feeding]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

47 Moby Thesaurus words for "eating":
   cannibal, cannibalistic, carnivorous, commensal, dietetic, dining,
   drinking, engorgement, engulfment, feeding, flesh-eating,
   fruitarian, gastronomic, gluttonous, grain-eating, graminivorous,
   granivorous, grass-eating, gulp, gulping, herbivorous, imbibition,
   ingestion, ingurgitation, insect-eating, insectivorous,
   lactovegetarian, man-eating, meat-eating, mensal, nourishing,
   nutritious, omnivorous, omophagous, pantophagous, phytivorous,
   phytophagous, plant-eating, postprandial, prandial, predacious,
   preprandial, slurp, swallow, swallowing, vegetable-eating,
   vegetarian



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Eating
   The ancient Hebrews would not eat with the Egyptians (Gen.
   43:32). In the time of our Lord they would not eat with
   Samaritans (John 4:9), and were astonished that he ate with
   publicans and sinners (Matt. 9:11). The Hebrews originally sat
   at table, but afterwards adopted the Persian and Chaldean
   practice of reclining (Luke 7:36-50). Their principal meal was
   at noon (Gen. 43:16; 1 Kings 20:16; Ruth 2:14; Luke 14:12). The
   word "eat" is used metaphorically in Jer. 15:16; Ezek. 3:1; Rev.
   10:9. In John 6:53-58, "eating and drinking" means believing in
   Christ. Women were never present as guests at meals (q.v.).