feeders

Noun

feeder (plural feeders)

1. One who feeds, or gives food to another.
   1. The participant in feederism who feeds the other (the feedee).
      • Often similes such as 'soft as velvet' or 'fluffy like a cloud' will be employed and the feeder will describe how he feels he can be lost in the enveloping folds of soft flesh.2010, Niall Richardson, Transgressive Bodies
2. One who feeds, or takes in food.
   • The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder,
     Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day
     More than the wild-cat; […]c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
3. One who, or that which, feeds material into something (especially a machine).
   • When the claxon sounded they immediately stopped what they were doing and uncovered the Oerlikon. Paddy, who was ammunition feeder, stood by while Jock trained the 20mm gun around.2007, Thomas E. Lightburn, The Shield and the Shark, page 173
4. That which is used to feed.
   • bird feeder
5. A tributary stream, especially of a canal.
   • The surface of the Balaton and the surrounding marshes is not less than 24 German square miles, or 384 English square miles; its principal feeder is the Szala, but all the water it receives appears inconsiderable relatively to its superficial extent, and the quantity lost in evaporation.1827, Conrad Malte-Brun, Universal Geography, or A Description of All the Parts of the World, on a New Plan, Edinburgh: Adam Black, volume 6, book 101, 285

See all 15 meanings of feeder