Eating vocabulary: This is an advanced English vocabulary lesson, and where you will learn 20 advanced verbs related to eating and drinking. 20—verbs relating to eating and drinking. We all enjoy eating and drinking. If we eat and drink a lot or a little, these verbs will help us understand and explain it. These are verbs that you can use to describe the way you or somebody else eats and drinks. Some of them are informal, and some of them are a little bit more formal.
20 Advanced English Verbs Eating Vocabulary
- To Bite
- To Bolt (Down)
- To Chomp (On)
- To Choke Down
- To Demolish
- To Devour
- To Dig In (Into)
- To Force Down
- To Gobble (Down)
- To Gulp (Down)
- To Guzzle (Down)
- To Munch
- To Nibble
- To Peck At
- To Pick At
- To Savour
- To Scoff
- To Snack On
- To Tuck In/Into
- To Wolf (Down)
1. To Bite
Meaning: To seize food with your teeth and jaws and then eat it.
Example: She bit a piece of cake, and it was delicious.
2. To Bolt (Down)
Meaning: To eat your food very, very quickly.
This refers to eating food very, very quickly. Bolt is about speed. When somebody bolts—or they used to describe a horse that runs away—it means it runs very fast. So, when you bolt down your food, you eat it without really stopping to take a breath of air.
Example: Don’t bolt down your food. You’ll choke.
3. To Chomp (On)
Meaning: To chew the food several times.
To chomp on something. Horses chomp on grass, but humans can chomp as well. So, we chew the food several times.
If you’re eating something soft like a salad, you might chomp on it because you’re not taking big bites, you’re chomping on the lettuce, the scallions, the peppers, or the onions, or the mushrooms, whatever you’ve got in that particular salad. To chomp on them. So, to eat very slowly and precisely.
Example: The horses chomped on the grass. The football manager noisily chomped on his chewing.
4. To Choke Down
Meaning: To eat something with difficulty.
You tend to take very big bites, and therefore you don’t eat it properly, and there’s a danger that you will choke or choke down on the food. [eating vocabulary]
Example:
- He had no words. He choked down his food silently and fled the kitchen.
- He choked down his food and went back to work.
5. To Demolish
Meaning: To eat quickly all the food you have been given (informal word).
Example:
- Wow, you demolished that cake very quickly.
- I used to get into bed and demolish a whole packet of biscuits before I went to sleep.
Students Also Read: C1 Idioms List: 12 Useful C1 Level English Idioms
6. To Devour
Meaning: When somebody devours the food, they’re either very hungry, so they eat it very quickly, or they really like the taste.
Example: The kid devoured a plate of cookies in five minutes. Wow, you devoured those. Will you be able to eat your dinner later?
7. To Dig In (Into)
Meaning: It means to start eating food with great enthusiasm (informal).
Example: Don’t wait for me, just dig in and eat what you can.
8. To Force Down
Meaning: It means to eat or drink something even though you do not want; to force down the food/drink.
Example: Kids do not like taking medicine so they have to force it down. I have forced down some toast. I really could not face anything else. Maybe I will have something to eat tomorrow.
9. To Gobble (Down)
Meaning: To eat your food very quickly. You can use this next one with or without the preposition.
You can gobble your food or gobble down your food. Gobble is the sort of noise that farm birds make, like turkeys or chickens or ducks or geese. They gobble the food. Kids love to gobble the food, they eat it very quickly. [eating vocabulary] They hardly stop for air, and they eat and then gobble it down. So, it could be breakfast, it could be lunch, it could be dinner, it doesn’t matter. They just eat very quickly.
Example: Little Johnny gobbled his dinner and went out to play with his friends.
10. To Gulp (Down)
Meaning: To loudly and quickly swallow large quantities of food, or drink; to gulp down a cold drink.
Example: You should drink water with your food but don’t gulp it down.
11. To Guzzle (Down)
Meaning: To drink a lot and very quickly; when you guzzle the drink, whether it’s water or minerals, tea, or coffee, it means to drink a lot and very quickly.
Example: He guzzled two beers to quench his thirst.
12. To Munch
Meaning: To chew your food loudly; to munch on biscuits, to munch on chips, etc.
Example: When I am watching a movie on a Saturday night, I like to munch on a bag of chips.
13. To Nibble
Meaning: To eat something delicately by taking very small bites.
Example: Have you got something small? I will nibble on it, I don’t have a big appetite.
14. To Peck At
Meaning: Usually somebody pecks at their food, a bit like a bird pecks with its beak. So, somebody pecks at their food when they are a little bit fussy.
Kids can be fussy eaters, and they don’t like to eat vegetables, they don’t like green, or they don’t like orange. So, they have a particular hatred of some type of vegetable. So, it’s very hard for you to get them to eat.
Example:
- He just pecks at the vegetables. But if you put a plate of chips, he will eat them all.
- He has been ill for a while, so he pecks at the food and then pushes the plate to one side.
15. To Pick At
Meaning: To eat small portions of food because it’s not tasty or you have got no appetite.
When we pick at something, again, perhaps it’s not so tasty. [eating vocabulary] Perhaps we don’t like the smell. Perhaps we’ve got no appetite. So, we just pick at our foods.
Example: She broke up with her boyfriend three days ago, and she has only been picking at her food ever since.
Students Also Read: C1 Verb List: 20 Advanced Verbs in English
16. To Savour
Meaning: When we savour our food, we really enjoy it; to enjoy the taste or the smell of something just before we swallow.
Example:
- He savoured every bite of the delicious steak.
- They savoured every mouthful of the chef’s dessert.
17. To Scoff
Meaning: This is a very British verb to describe eating, it means to eat something so quickly so that nobody else can get it. To scoff means to stuff the biscuits or cram the sweets into your mouth and (gulp) to scoff the food.
Example: He scoffed down all of the sweets, and he didn’t offer any of them to his friends or his siblings.
18. To Snack On
Meaning: Means to take bites of small things; if you snack on something, snack on fruit, or snack on some nuts that are healthy nuts. So, snack on small bites to take the edge off your appetite.
Example: The doctor will tell you if you want to lose weight or you want to stop putting on weight, you have to stop snacking between meals. (You have to stop eating biscuits. or you have to stop eating other types of foods that are full of calories).
19. To Tuck In/Into
Meaning: To eat food with enthusiasm because you like it or because you are hungry.
Example:
- It’s a cold night, there is some food for you there. So please tuck in.
- They tucked into lunch at a mountain restaurant.
20. To Wolf (Down)
Meaning: To eat food very quickly and greedily.
Example:
- As soon as you put the food on the table, they wolf it down.
- They wolfed down a plate of sausages in a few minutes.
Conclusion
These were 20 advanced verbs that you can use to describe eating and drinking. So, you have to try and practise them. [eating vocabulary] You won’t use them all, but you will associate some of them with the actions of your friends, your family, and particularly your kids, so try to use them.
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