10 English Verbs related to Eating

Here you will learn 10 English verbs related to eating: to swallow, to munch, to guzzle, to indulge and more. englishclass101

Hi, this is Harry and welcome to my English learning website.

Here I try to help you with your understanding of the English language that you can get a more enjoyable experience when you’re communicating with people in English. Either on holidays, on business or wherever it may be. 

List of Eating verbs in English

10 English Verbs related to Eating

Today, we’re going to look at some verbs and in particular, I’m going to take a look at those verbs related to eating.

Of course, we all love to eat. We all love eating food, tasting food, so I’m going to give you some verbs that we can use connected with that. To improve your English vocabulary connected with food and eating I also recommend you to learn English food adjectives.

1. to bite

Meaning: to seize food with your teeth and jaws and then eat it

Example: 

He bit a small piece of the pastry, testing if it was too sweet or not.

2. to savour /ˈseɪ.vər/

Meaning: to enjoy the taste or the smell of something

Example:

They savoured every bite of the delicious food.

So you take the first bite of that beautifully cooked duck and you savour it in your mouth for seconds before you swallow it.

Or you smell and sniff the fragrance of the food sizzling in the pan, or the spices that have been used, or even the aroma of the wine that you’ve just opened to savour meaning to enjoy. As I said that you enjoy the taste just before you swallow.

3. to swallow

Meaning: to take (something) into your stomach through your mouth and throat

Example: 

He accidentally swallowed a fish bone during the meal time.

When you have the food, you’ve tasted it. You have chewed it several times, as we are advised by doctors six or seven times. So we we take the food, chew it on, then we swallow it, and it goes into our stomach through a mouth and down our throats.

10 English Verbs related to Eating

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4. to digest

Meaning: to change the food that you have eaten by a biological process into a simpler format that can be used by the body

Example: 

Digested food is absorbed into the bloodstream.

When you digest something, it is broken down. Often, some foods are more difficult to digest, and others something soft like porridge in the morning, which I always have for breakfast is much easier to digest then a plate off roast beef.

We Brits, we love our roast beef, but the a little bit more difficult to digest, and therefore you shouldn’t eat it too late at night. Okay, so to digest means to break down that food to make it useful for the body to indulge.

5. to indulge

Meaning: to allow yourself to have a special pleasure from the taste, the smell or the experience of your favourite food, wine or other aspects of food

Example:

When you’re stressed, you indulge yourself with a bar of chocolate or a piece of cake.

Please allow me to indulge myself.

Meaning we want to talk about something, and we want somebody to listen, so we just ask them to allow us to indulge yourselves. But when we’re talking about eating, to indulge is to allow yourself the pleasure of the taste or the smell.

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6. to devour /dɪˈvaʊər/

Meaning: to eat something greedily or ravenously (when you’re really hungry)

Example:

I devoured a plate of homemade sausage, cabbage and bacon.

Children devour food all the time. Take them into McDonald’s. You know you put it in front of them and then two minutes later, boom, it’s gone. They have devoured the food.

10 English Verbs related to Eating

7. to bolt (down)

Meaning: to eat really, really quickly

Example: 

Peter was so hungry he bolted down his soup.

To bolt also means to run very fast.

The horse bolted.

Meaning the horse ran away.

Often, parent would say,

Don’t bolt your food down. Don’t bolt your food down.

Meaning don’t eat so quickly and enjoy the taste.

8. to munch

Meaning: to chew your food loudly

Example: 

Sam found an unopened packet of crisps and munched through it waiting for the kettle to boil.

The types of foods that you would usually munch are cereal, crisps (chips), popcorn, peanuts, etc.

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9. to nibble

Meaning: to eat delicately by taking very small bites (like a rabbit or a bird)

Example: englishclass101

I’ll nibble a bit of cheese later on.

We often use the word nibble when we’re not so hungry.

10. to guzzle

Meaning: to drink really, really quickly because we’re thirsty

Example:

She finished her run, guzzled a litre of mineral water and took a shower.

So these are our eating verbs in English. Let me give them to you again:

  • to bite
  • to savour
  • to swallow
  • to digest
  • to indulge yourself
  • to devour
  • to bolt (down)
  • to munch
  • to nibble
  • to guzzle

Okay, so 10 English verbs related to eating. Hopefully you enjoyed that and join me again soon.

More information

For more information on English grammar rules, English collocations and English idioms, check out the links below:

Difference between UNLESS and UNTIL

How to learn English vocabulary easily

Free learning materials for intermediate and advanced English are always available at Learning English with the BBC.

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