eat up

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eat up (third-person singular simple present eats up, present participle eating up, simple past ate up, past participle eaten up)

1. (ambitransitive) To consume completely.

   Coordinate term: drink up

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

   Dinner is served. Eat up!

2. (transitive, slang, figurative) To cause (someone) to obsess; to figuratively consume (someone).

   His anger has been eating him up.

3. (transitive, figurative) To subtract, use up.

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

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

     The powerful car ate up the miles.

4. (transitive, figurative, informal) To accept or believe entirely, immediately, and without questioning.

   She ate up everything that her image consultant said.

5. (transitive, slang) To acclaim or praise (someone or something); to consume (absorb information).

   They eat up every book he puts out.

   • 1977 November 13, Robert Sherman, “Beguiling ‘Devil's Disciple’”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 December 2025:

     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.

   • 1992 January 9, John Balzar, quoting Michael Poboronchook, “Russians Lose Their Country on Way to New World […]”, in Los Angeles Times‎^[2], Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 December 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.

   • 2020 June 9, Margaret Lyons, quoting Priya, “What Should I Watch After I’ve Binged ‘Dead to Me’?”, in The New York Times‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 9 June 2020:

     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?

   • 2024 July 11, Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Bernstein, Reid J. Epstein, “How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood”, in The New York Times‎^[4], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 July 2024:

     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.

6. (transitive, US, informal, chiefly of children or pets) To find something to be very cute.

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

7. (transitive, slang, figurative) To go quickly on a route.

   We ate up the road to Pennsylvania.

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

8. (transitive, slang) To be very good at; to succeed at; to smash. (Compare eat and leave no crumbs.)
   • 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^[5]:

     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”.

9. (slang, informal) To completely dominate someone else, especially with a comeback or clapback.

   Girl, you ate him up!

• chow down
• eat something up with a spoon

• ate up, taupe