eat up

3 meanings

Meanings
  1. 1 eat all of something B1
  2. 2 use up a lot of something valuable, especially time or money B2
  3. 3 enjoy something a lot C1
1 eat sth up

eat all of something

B1

What does "eat up" mean in this sense?

To eat up means to finish all of your food — leaving nothing on the plate. It is most often used as an encouraging instruction, especially by parents talking to children at mealtimes. The tone is warm and coaxing rather than stern. You can use it with a food object ('eat up your vegetables') or without one ('eat up!') when it is clear from the situation that you mean 'finish your meal'. It is a common, everyday expression in informal spoken English but is rarely seen in formal or written contexts.

Examples

How to use it

eat up (no object)

Used as a standalone imperative when the food is already understood from the context — this is the most common form.

Come on, eat up — the bus leaves in ten minutes!

eat up + food

Used when you want to name the food, with the object placed after the particle.

Please eat up your leftovers before we order anything new.

eat + food + up

Short noun objects are very commonly placed between the verb and the particle, especially in encouraging speech.

If you eat your dinner up, we can watch a film afterwards.

eat + pronoun + up

When referring back to food already mentioned, a pronoun must go between the verb and the particle, never after it.

Your toast is going cold — eat it up while it's still warm.

subject + ate + food + up / ate up + food

Used in past tense to describe someone finishing all of their food, often with a sense of approval.

He ate up every last bit of the stew and asked for more.

Common Collocations

vegetablesdinnerfoodeverythinglunchleftovers

Common Mistakes

Pronoun after the particle

When you use a pronoun instead of a noun, it must go between 'eat' and 'up', not after 'up'. Putting the pronoun at the end sounds unnatural.

✗ The soup is getting cold — eat up it quickly.
✓ The soup is getting cold — eat it up quickly.
Confusing the two meanings of 'eat up'

This phrasal verb also has a different meaning: to consume resources such as time, money, or energy. If the object is food, you are using the correct sense. If the object is something abstract like a budget or hours, that is a different meaning.

✗ These long meetings eat up my lunch every day. (if you mean 'consume time', this is actually the other sense — make sure you know which one you need)
✓ These long meetings eat up all my time. / Come on, eat up your lunch before the meeting starts.
Avoiding separation with short objects

With short noun objects, separating the phrasal verb sounds much more natural. Learners sometimes keep the object after the particle when a native speaker would almost always split it.

✗ Eat up your peas.
✓ Eat your peas up.

Usage

This phrasal verb is most common as a spoken imperative ('Eat up!') in informal, family settings, especially when adults are encouraging children to finish their food. It is neutral in register but rarely used in formal or written contexts.

2 eat sth up

use up a lot of something valuable, especially time or money

B2

Sense 2: What does "eat sth up" mean?

This figurative use of 'eat up' describes something consuming a large amount of a valuable resource — usually time, money, energy, or storage — in a way that feels excessive or wasteful. The subject is typically a process, cost, or activity rather than a person: think commuting, repairs, fees, or a demanding project. There is almost always a negative or regretful tone, implying that the resource is being lost in an undesirable way. For example, unexpected costs can eat up your savings, or a heavy app can eat up your phone's battery. It's used across everyday conversation, journalism, personal finance, and tech writing, making it a very versatile and natural-sounding expression.

Examples

How to use it

subject + eat up + object (time/money/resource)

The most common pattern, where a process or cost is the subject and the resource being consumed is the object.

Long meetings eat up a huge chunk of the working day.

subject + eat + object + up (short noun phrase)

With short noun phrases, the object can naturally sit between the verb and particle for emphasis.

The agency fees ate our budget up within the first month.

subject + eat + pronoun + up

When the object is a pronoun, it must always go between the verb and the particle — never after 'up'.

We'd saved for months, but the repairs just ate it up.

object + be eaten up by + cause

The passive form is occasionally used, particularly in written or more formal contexts, to emphasise what was lost rather than what caused the loss.

A significant portion of the grant was eaten up by administrative costs.

subject + eat up + object (ongoing with present continuous)

The present continuous is natural when describing a process that is actively consuming resources right now.

The new software update is eating up all my available storage.

Common Collocations

timemoneysavingsbudgetresourcesbattery/storage

Common Mistakes

Confusing with the literal food sense

This sense of 'eat up' only works with abstract, valuable things like time, money, or storage — not with food. If the object is something you actually consume for nutrition, you're using a different sense of the phrasal verb.

✗ The repairs ate up all the sandwiches.
✓ The repairs ate up all our savings.
Confusing 'eat up' with 'eat into'

'Eat into' is used for gradual, partial reduction and is not separable — the object always follows 'into' directly. 'Eat up' implies consuming a large or more complete portion and can be separated. Choosing the wrong one changes both the grammar and the meaning.

✗ The extra expenses are eating into our entire budget completely.
✓ The extra expenses have eaten up our entire budget.
Putting a pronoun after 'up'

When the object is a pronoun like 'it' or 'them', it must go between 'eat' and 'up', never after the particle.

✗ The long commute really eats up it.
✓ The long commute really eats it up.

Usage

This phrasal verb is neutral to informal and works well in both speech and writing. The subject is usually a process or cost (e.g. 'commuting', 'repairs'), not a person, and it almost always implies something is being wasted or lost.

3 eat sth up

enjoy something a lot

C1

Sense 3: What does "eat sth up" mean?

This figurative use of 'eat up' describes the way someone receives and enthusiastically embraces something intangible — such as praise, flattery, attention, or a compelling story — with eager, often uncritical delight. The image is of consuming something so pleasurably that you want every last bit of it. It typically implies that the subject (a person, crowd, or audience) is not just passively enjoying something but actively relishing it, sometimes to the point of being easily won over. In journalistic and entertainment contexts, the phrase often carries a subtly wry or ironic tone, hinting that the enthusiasm on display is somewhat naive or that the object of that enthusiasm may not entirely deserve it. The object is always something abstract or experiential — you eat up praise, attention, drama, or every word of a speech, never food or money, which belong to other senses of the phrase.

Examples

How to use it

subject + eat up + abstract noun

The most common pattern, where the object follows the particle directly. Used when the object is a noun phrase rather than a pronoun.

The crowd ate up every word of his impassioned monologue.

subject + eat + pronoun + up

When the object is a pronoun, it must be placed between 'eat' and 'up' — placing it after 'up' is ungrammatical.

She showered him with compliments, and he just ate them up.

subject + eat up + the + abstract noun

Often used with a definite article when referring to a specific instance of attention, praise, flattery, or drama in context.

The young actor ate up the adoration at his first major premiere.

abstract noun + be eaten up + by + subject

The passive is possible, though less common, and works best when the focus is on what was enthusiastically received rather than who received it.

Every line of the comedian's set was eaten up by an audience hungry for something new.

subject + have eaten up + abstract noun

The present perfect is used when the enthusiastic reception is being described as something that has happened up to the present, often in commentary or reviews.

Fans have always eaten up the rivalry between the two designers.

Common Collocations

eat up every wordeat up the attentioneat up the praiseeat up the flatteryeat up the storyeat up the applause

Common Mistakes

Confusing with the consumption/resource sense

This sense of 'eat up' requires an abstract or experiential object — praise, attention, drama, flattery, gossip. If the object is something concrete like time, money, fuel, or food, the sentence belongs to a completely different sense of the phrase.

✗ The project ate up the compliments from the budget.
✓ The project manager ate up the compliments from the client.
Pronoun placed after the particle

When the object is a pronoun, it must come between 'eat' and 'up'. Placing it after 'up' produces an ungrammatical sentence.

✗ The fans ate up it without a second thought.
✓ The fans ate it up without a second thought.
Missing the figurative, abstract object

This sense always needs an object — something intangible that is being eagerly embraced. Using it without an object, or with a literal object, shifts the meaning to a different sense entirely.

✗ She stepped onto the stage and just ate up.
✓ She stepped onto the stage and ate up every moment of the applause.

Usage

This phrasal verb is informal and is especially common in entertainment, media, and everyday conversation. It often carries a slightly ironic tone, suggesting the audience accepted something uncritically or was easily pleased.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 'Eat up!' mainly something parents say to children?

It is very strongly associated with that context, yes — it is one of the most common things a parent might say to a child at mealtimes. However, it can also be used among friends or adults in an informal, encouraging way, for example when someone is picking at their food and you want to urge them to finish. The tone is always warm and gently coaxing.

Can 'eat up' be used to talk about eating quickly or greedily?

No — 'eat up' simply means to finish or consume all of something, without any suggestion of speed or greediness. If you want to describe eating very fast or eagerly, a better choice would be a different expression. 'Eat up' is about completion, not speed.

Can I use 'eat up' in the passive, like 'The food was eaten up'?

This is possible but sounds quite unnatural in most situations. 'Eat up' is almost always used in active sentences, and especially as an imperative. It is best to stick to active forms like 'She ate everything up' rather than trying to construct a passive.

What kinds of things can be the object of 'eat up'?

The object is always a food item — things like your dinner, vegetables, leftovers, breakfast, or everything on your plate. If the object is something non-edible and abstract, such as time, money, or battery life, that belongs to a completely different meaning of 'eat up'. Stick to food objects for this sense.

Can I say 'I'm eating up my dinner right now'?

This is possible if you are describing something happening at this exact moment, but it sounds slightly unusual. 'Eat up' is most natural as an imperative or in the simple past ('She ate up all her food'). Using the present continuous is not wrong, but native speakers would more often just say 'I'm eating my dinner' in that situation.

Can a person be the subject, like 'I eat up a lot of time'?

In this sense, the subject is usually a process, cost, or activity — not a person. It's much more natural to say 'the project eats up a lot of my time' than 'I eat up a lot of time'. If you make a person the subject, it sounds like a different meaning of 'eat up'.

Does 'eat up' always sound negative?

In this sense, yes — it almost always carries a negative or regretful tone. The implication is that the resource being consumed is lost in an undesirable or wasteful way. You wouldn't normally use it to describe something positive happening to your time or money.

What kinds of things can be 'eaten up' — what works as the object?

The object is always something abstract and valuable that you have a finite amount of: time, money, savings, budget, storage, battery life, data, energy, or resources. If you're thinking of using a concrete physical object as the object, this sense probably doesn't apply.

Can I use 'eat up' in formal writing, like a business report?

It works well in journalism, business articles, and blog posts, but it's considered slightly informal for highly formal or academic writing. In a business report, you might prefer 'consume' or 'account for' instead, though 'eat up' would not sound strange in most professional contexts.

Is 'has been eating up' correct, or does it sound strange?

It's grammatically possible but sounds slightly forced in most situations. Stick to the present continuous ('is eating up') for ongoing processes, or use the present perfect simple ('has eaten up') when talking about a completed result. The perfect continuous form is used very rarely with this phrasal verb.

Does 'eat up' always have a slightly ironic or critical meaning?

Not always, but it often carries that undertone — especially in journalism and social commentary — where it implies the audience or person was perhaps too easily impressed or too willing to accept something without questioning it. In casual conversation, the irony can be absent and the phrase simply means someone enjoyed or embraced something with great enthusiasm.

What kinds of things can be 'eaten up' in this sense?

The object should always be something abstract or experiential rather than a physical thing. Typical objects include praise, attention, flattery, compliments, applause, gossip, drama, hype, and the excitement or spectacle of an event. If you find yourself writing a concrete noun like 'money' or 'time' as the object, you're likely thinking of a different sense of 'eat up'.

Is it more natural to say 'ate up the praise' or 'ate the praise up'?

Both are grammatically fine with a short noun phrase, and neither sounds unnatural. However, with longer or heavier noun phrases, keeping them together after 'up' — 'ate up the extraordinary outpouring of public sympathy' — tends to feel more natural than separating them.

Can 'eat up' be used in the passive in this sense?

Yes, the passive is grammatically possible and does appear in written English, particularly in entertainment reporting or criticism — for example, 'Her performance was eaten up by audiences worldwide.' That said, the active form is much more common, and the passive can sound slightly formal or literary.

What is the difference between 'eat up' and 'lap up' in this sense?

'Lap up' is a near-synonym and the two are interchangeable in most situations. The main difference is one of tone: 'lap up' tends to sound slightly more judgmental or ironic, suggesting the person accepted something even more uncritically or excessively. In practice, many speakers use the two interchangeably without intending any difference in nuance.

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