Question

What does this line mean: 'there are forty feeding like one'

Answer 1

Answer:

Forty feeding like one, over here refers to how slowly the work is actually being done in literal terms. That where ever this phrase had been used it meant that a certain work was being done very slowly and gradually and or a person was very poor in his dealings because he wasn't vigilant enough.

Explanation:

There are many times in the English language that people come across terms whose literal meaning is different from the actual meaning , i.e usually hidden between the lines and usually requires the need of context to help and understand the meaning of the phrase better.

One such example is that of the question asked above

Answer 2

Answer:

This signifies that the entire range of the cattle mentioned in the poem is forty. They were grazing together in the fields and when one sees them form a different angle, it seemed that all the cattle grazing on the field appeared as one. This is because the head as of the forty cattle angled in such a way that it became a view for single cattle.