먹었다

In a sentence

• 나는 점심으로 비빔밥을 먹었다.

  I ate Bibimbap for lunch.

  Here, "먹었다" is used to indicate the past action of eating something.

• 그 이야기를 듣고 나는 큰 충격을 먹었다.

  Upon hearing the story, I was greatly shocked.

  In this instance, "먹었다" means to have been affected or shocked, showing its metaphorical use.

• 지난번에 여행에서 이런 음식을 먹었다고 들었어.

  I heard that they ate this type of food during the last trip.

  Here, "먹었다" is used as reported speech to discuss an action (eating) that someone else performed in the past.