UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: to eat, to drink, to consume food, to use food

Semantic entry: 23.1

Semantic domains: Physiological Processes and States

Subdomains: Eat, Drink

Definition: to consume food, usually solids, but also liquids{N:001}

Notes: As noted in the contexts of RV MAT 12:1 · LV MAT 12:1 · Read together MAT 12:1 and RV CO1 9:7 · LV CO1 9:7 · Read together CO1 9:7, ἐσθίω[a] is generic in the sense that it includes the consumption of both solid foods and liquids, but ἐσθίω is not employed in referring to the drinking of alcoholic beverages (see μεθύω [source selector 000001][b] to drink freely of wine or beer, 23.37: μεθύω).|In some languages an important distinction is made in terms for ‘eating’ depending upon whether the eating is done by an adult or by a very small child, who in most instances must be helped to eat. Other distinctions in terminology for eating may involve the quantities of food (whether small or extensive), the rapidity with which one eats (gulping or mincing), the state of what is eaten (raw, fresh, cooked) or the type of food, for example, meat, cereal, fruit, or leafy vegetable.

Sense 2: to destroy, to consume

Semantic entry: 20.44

Semantic domains: Violence, Harm, Destroy, Kill

Subdomains: Destroy

Definition: (a figurative extension of meaning of ἐσθίω[a] ‘to eat,’ 23.1: ἐσθίω) to destroy, with the implication of doing away with all traces of an object

Sense 3: to earn a living, to earn a livelihood

Semantic entry: 57.190

Semantic domains: Possess, Transfer, Exchange

Subdomains: Earn, Gain, Do Business

Definition: (an idiom, literally: to eat one’s own bread) to earn a living by one’s own efforts

Collocations: τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἄρτον ἐσθίω