title: What does it mean to "consume" in Python? In an iterator?
body: <p>I have been working in Python for a few months now, and it has occurred to me that I often overlook vocabulary that escapes me at first glance, instead trying to get the gist of an idea. Now, looking back, I still find myself confused beyond belief at what the term <em>consume</em> refers to. My initial interest came from explanations of iterators which spoke of a value of an iterator being consumed. However, looking around, this does not seem to be commonplace in the Python lexicon. Or is it? Digging around here finds mostly references to Web Services, and one or two discussions on how to hide this or that result of a function.</p>
  
  <p>I suppose then, to break down my ignorance into a few base points:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Does "consuming" do different things in different Pythonic contexts?  </li>
  <li>What happens to data when it is consumed, such as in <code>iter()</code>?  </li>
  <li>When a variable is assigned to an iterator's result-- the allegedly consumed piece of data-- does it no longer belong to the iterator?  </li>
  <li>Can you consume more than one value from an iterator object in a single call to the iterator?  </li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I hope that makes some sort of sense. Note that this is not in reference to any particular need; I'm simply confused beyond rational plausibility.  </p>
  
  <p>EDIT: One more thing... does an iterated value (when called with <code>next()</code>) stay in memory?</p>