feeding

Etymology

verb

1. present participle and gerund of feed

noun

1. (uncountable) The act or process of giving food.
   premium blend for feeding of dairy herds
2. (countable) An instance or session of giving food.
   Coordinate term: serving
   the morning feeding might differ from the evening feeding in protein content
   optimal intervals between feedings for neonates with weak esophagogastric sphincter
   […] they are nevertheless always like the lion's keeper, who, when by long patience, a thousand feedings, and a thousand clawings, he hath made a fierce lion familiar, yet never gives him meat, but with pulling back his hand, always in fear […] 1750, The Universal Magazine, volume 7, page 52
3. (uncountable, usually said of animals) The act or process of eating.
   feeding from round bales is necessary here in winter, when pasturage is ebbed
4. (countable, usually said of animals) An instance or session of eating.
   Coordinate term: meal
   picked up hardware disease during a feeding outside the intended pasture
5. (dated) That which is eaten: food, feed, or fodder.
6. (dated) That which furnishes or affords food, especially for animals.
7. (uncountable) The loading of material into a machine that will process it.
   caution in the feeding of the No. 3 mill