eat v Cp DAE ~ v 1 'to provide (a person) with food' (1837-); R M NANCE Glossary of Cornish Sea-words (1963), p. 77 'When the corn is in the shock, / Then the fish is to the rock' Co.
   Phr eat oneself: to provide oneself with food.
   1888 M F HOWLEY 208 In the winter men lived in 'cook-rooms' attached to the stages, and boarded themselves or 'ate themselves,' as they said.
   eat one's path: to eat while walking along a trail or road (M 68-3).eat the rocks: of cod-fish, to school in large
   numbers close to shore, esp in pursuit of caplin.
   [(1786) 1792 CARTWRIGHT iii "Labrador: A Poetical Epistle" [4] The Codfish now in shoals come on the coast, / (A Fish'ry this, our Nation's chiefest boast) / Now numerous Caplin croud along the shore; / Tho' great their numbers, yet their Foes seem more; / Whilst Birds of rapine, hover o'er their Heads, / Voracious Fish in myriads throng their Beds. / With these our Hooks we artfully disguise, / And soon the glutton Cod becomes our Prise.] 1909 BROWNE 281 At the time of our visit 'the fish was eating the rocks' (this is a fisherman's term for plentifulness). 1966 HORWOOD 17 The codfish crowd towards shore behind [the caplin] until they are 'eating the rocks.'

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