"tuck into"

Forgive my ignorance, but I did a search on the origins of this phrase in regards to food and none were satisfactory to me.

I don't recall hearing this phrase while growing up, and now when I hear it, it brings odd imagery to mind that does not connect with eating food. "Tucking in", to me, is something you do to a child's blankie before saying goodnight, or something you do to the corners of a bedsheet, or the tail of your shirt.

How/when did "tuck" become associated with food, does anyone know?

It's British slang, I believe.

Ahh, I see. Kind of like "spot on", then.

Thanks!

In Oz, "tucker" is food.

Geo

This just in from Al Gore's Internets (bold added by me):

'Tuck' is a slang term for food which was coined in English public schools in the 19th century. For example, Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's School Days, 1857:

"The Slogger looks rather sodden, as if he didn't take much exercise and ate too much tuck."

This migrated to Australia, where it was modified to tucker. Both this meaning of tucker and the women's bib meaning have connections with food and it is tempting to speculate that they are in some way connected. It seems that they aren't. Tucker in the food sense derives from the earlier term 'a tuck-out' (later also 'tuck-in'), which meant 'a hearty meal'. 'Tuck-out' was synonymous with 'blow-out'. Both terms are listed in John Badcock's Slang: A Dictionary of the Turf, 1823:

Blow-out - a good dinner will blow-out a man's tripes like any thing; so will a heavy supper. Either, or any other gormandising meal, is also 'a famous tuck-out'.

Stevez--Good Call on your sig line!

Geo