feeder

Etymology

From Middle English feedere, federe, fedare, equivalent to feed + -er.

noun

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.
   There are many who are dietarians in theory, but liberal feeders in practice. They suppose or maintain that it is a duty to deny oneself of all luxuries at the table, but practically they take the best that they can get. 1871, George Miller Beard, Eating and Drinking
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.
   a 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
6. A branch line of a railway.
   This line, described as a valuable feeder to the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, was opened on July 8, 1836, and superseded the older wagonway. 1942 May-June, Charles E. Lee, “The Brampton Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 140
   Another factor to be allowed for in establishing the remunerativeness of a service was its value as a feeder to the rest of the system. 1959 August, “Talking of Trains: The costs of transport”, in Trains Illustrated, page 346
7. A transmission line that feeds the electricity for an electricity substation, or for a transmitter.
8. (education) Short for feeder school.
9. (shipbuilding, navigation) A feeder ship.
10. (US, law) A judge whose law clerks are often selected to become clerks for the Supreme Court.
11. (baseball, slang, archaic, 1800s) The pitcher.
12. (video games, derogatory) A player whose character is killed by the opposing player or team more than once, deliberately or through lack of skills and experience, thus helping the opposing side.
13. (obsolete) One who abets another.
14. (obsolete) A parasite.