posted
eat::feed drink::soak/saturate/souse/hydrate/quench/slake drink::water (like water the plants, but use it for a person)
I kept thinking in terms of "feed the baby," which seems to fit best with "water the baby," though it's a bit odd. If it were a hospital patient, "hydrate" works best for me. For intransitive interpretations of "feed," hydrate, quench, and slake seem pretty close.
posted
If you want drink:... to have the same meaning as eat:feed, then I'm not sure there is an answer. Because drink as in water, coffee, beer, means the same as drink as in drink the beer. Drink the drink.
I don't think the suggestion you have are what you are looking for. The closest would be water, as in water the plants.
posted
I didn't mean drink has the same meaning as drink. I meant its the same word with differnt meanings.
Posts: 626 | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
"eat," "feed," and "drink" all seem to be Old English in origin, rather than imported Norman French words. Most of the suggestions, I think, are imports. Is there another non-imported word for "drink"?
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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This works if what you're looking for is performing the act on yourself is to performing the act on someone else, ie. "I eat food" vs "I feed an apple to Sally". I don't believe there is a single word in relation to drink that carries the same meaning as feed in this context. Besides, if we all need to sit here and cogitate up a word that does carry the same meaning, is that really your best choice? Why not just go with "helped Sally to drink" or "made Sally drink" or "forced Sally to drink".
No one is going to fault you for that, and the word police won't come and haul you away. They might if you come up with some obscure word based on it's linguistic heritage and attempt to use it.
Jayson Merryfield
[This message has been edited by Wolfe_boy (edited September 12, 2007).]
posted
Lol! I think this aptly demonstrates the insufficiency of those dang verbal SAT questions!
My take is that you're talking about animals. You feed animals. Feeding is some sort of mass event and has a sort of primordial, instinct-driven feel to it. So I think "water" is the best choice.
posted
The problem isn't you. The problem is the English language. And it's not that we need more words for "drink". It's that we need fewer words for "eat".
Posts: 104 | Registered: Sep 2007
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posted
Fewer words? Please no -- I like to keep my options open. "Love" is an example where English is pitifully insuffient.
Posts: 785 | Registered: Mar 2007
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posted
I like the suggestion of "water." It's appropriate no matter how you define "feed" and "drink."
Posts: 683 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Feeding and watering the cows. Of course it's not the same if it's not water, I mean you don't milk a baby. I'm sure liquefy and liquidate don't work. You could just go with serve or ask a bartender what verb they use.
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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The seven works of mercy are:— (1) To tend the sick. (2) To feed the hungry. (3) To give drink to the thirsty. (4) To clothe the naked. (5) To house the homeless. (6) To visit the fatherless and the afflicted. (7) To bury the dead.
It seems the 'word' is give drink
PS: Thankyou Bartleby.com
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited September 13, 2007).]
posted
It seems I'm left to bemoan the sorry asymmetry in the English language. (I hope I don't lose sleep over it.) It was fun, though - I figured this would be a bit like tossing tuna into shark-infested waters, and it was...
hoptoad: You're looking for "crook". A crook can be the inside of any bend, though, so you're left with "crook of the elbow".
I also bemoan the lack of a laughing smiley. The funniest part is that, for this particular ambiguity, the first reconciliation my brain comes up with is splashing a baby with milk. You know: you milk a baby, and you water the grass...
posted
Even Arabic, which is set up for this stuff, is not completely symmetrical in that respect. That is, not every verb exhausts every measure, and there are sometimes multiple words that mean the same thing - starting with darasa and Talaba.
But it certainly goes further in standing theta grid theory on its head. The idea of theta grid was that semantics is expressed in the relationship of words to other words, like: die kill murder assasinate
Each involves no longer being alive. But "die" is intransitive, "kill" transitive, "murder" implies intent, and "assasinate" a political agenda. "If you know what crime is being committed, press 1. You have selected... regicide. If you know the name of the monarch being murdered, press 1..."
posted
Great. Now every morning I'm going to have to deodorize my elbow pits, too. Do me a favor and don't tell me about any others.
Posts: 453 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
Hey, how many Hatrackers does it take to find the right verb?
One to pose a sensitive question about verb usage.
Two to speculate on the origins of the verb, both in English and in any other language with which they, the posters, are familiar.
Three to bemoan the fact that English does not have the correct verb to apply to the situation in question.
One to critique the way in which the person who posed the question posed it.
Two to post URLS that may or may not have any relationship to the topic at hand.
One to post their own distressing verb-related issues.
One to post a personally distressing issue with a noun.
One post from Kathleen, encouraging us to all play nice.
I have to stop now, because if I don't stop laughing, I'm not going to be able to breathe - oh, and that reminds me:
One to post a message that has nothing to do either with the original topic or any other topic posted on this or any other thread, but which instead is a complete nonsequitor, found amusing and of interest solely to the person posting.
and, what about the word "pour". And I hope the baby gets cleaned up.
[This message has been edited by debhoag (edited September 14, 2007).]
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