consume Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb eat immoderately
    down; go through; devour.
    • Some people can down a pound of meat in the course of one meal
  2. verb serve oneself to, or consume regularly
    have; take in; ingest; take.
    • Have another bowl of chicken soup!
    • I don't take sugar in my coffee
  3. verb spend extravagantly
    ware; waste; squander.
    • waste not, want not
  4. verb destroy completely
    • The fire consumed the building
  5. verb use up (resources or materials)
    exhaust; wipe out; deplete; use up; eat up; eat; run through.
    • this car consumes a lot of gas
    • We exhausted our savings
    • They run through 20 bottles of wine a week
  6. verb engage fully
    • The effort to pass the exam consumed all his energy

WordNet

Con*sume" transitive verb
Etymology
L. consumere to take wholly or complectely, to consume; con- + sumere to take; sub + emere to buv. See Redeem.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Consumed ; present participle & verbal noun Consuming
Definitions
  1. To destroy, as by decomposition, dissipation, waste, or fire; to use up; to expend; to waste; to burn up; to eat up; to devour.
    If he were putting to my house the brand That shall consume it. Shak.
    Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume. Matt. vi. 20 (Rev. Ver. ).
    Let me alone . . . that I may consume them. Ex. xxxii. 10.
    Syn. -- To destroy; swallow up; ingulf; absorb; waste; exhaust; spend; expend; squander; lavish; dissipate.
Con*sume" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To waste away slowly.
    Therefore, let Renedick, like covered fire, Consume away in sighs. Shak.

Webster 1913