meal
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /miːl/
ipa: /mil/
ipa: [miəɫ]
rhymes: -iːl
Forms: form: meals
Etymology: From Middle English mel, from Old English mǣl (“measure, time, occasion, set time, time for eating, meal”), from Proto-West Germanic *māl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”).
Cognate with West Frisian miel, Dutch maal (“meal, time, occurrence”), German Mal (“time”), Mahl (“meal”), Norwegian Bokmål mål (“meal”), Swedish mål (“meal”); and (from Proto-Indo-European) with Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”), Latin mensus, Russian ме́ра (méra, “measure”), Lithuanian mẽtas. Related to Old English mǣþ (“measure, degree, proportion”).
Senses: examples: text: Breakfast is the morning meal, lunch is the noon meal, and dinner, or supper, is the evening meal.
text: c1450, Secreta Secretorumː
He that will cast meal upon meal is not able to have (a) long life.
text: c1500, The King and the Hermitː
I have been there and taken deal / And have had many (a) merry meal.
text: 1535?, Dyfference Astronː
But above all things beware that thou eat not till thou feel thy stomach empty and that it hath made good digestion of the first meal.
text: 1569, Fenton, Wondersː
Besides he was so fantastical and unruly in his appetites, that he used no common meats at his meals, but was fed with the combs of cocks, the tongues of peahens.
text: Ere we will eate our Meale in feare, and ſleepe / In the affliction of theſe terrible Dreames, / That ſhake vs Nightly: […]
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 140, column 2:
text: SIR, I was thrice at Lamhith, to haue dined with the Archeb. sins your departure, and still he was to dine, at the Court or with some Bishop. But I must and will finde him assoone as I may: and rather at a meale, then otherwise, because I would haue meanes, to participat at large, about our Collation: […]
ref: 1606 February 25, Tho[mas] Bodley, “149⁠”, in G[eorge] W[ilson] Wheeler, editor, Letters of Sir Thomas Bodley to Thomas James, First Keeper of the Bodleian Library […], Oxford, Oxon: At the Clarendon Press, published 1926, page 155:
text: 1640, Richard Brathwait, Ar't asleep Husband? A BOULSTER LECTURE, Stored with all variety of witty Jests, merry Tales, and other pleasant passages; extracted from the choycest Flowers of Phi∣losophy, Poesy, ancient and moderne Historyː
Give me but so many meals, and thou shalt find me one of the strongest Turkish males that ever English gennet bore.
text: 1796, Robert Bage, Hermsprong: or, Man As He Is Notː
This letter was written whilst my hostess of the George was preparing the last meal I ever was to eat.
text: 1835, Edgar Allan Poe, The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaallː
Puss, who seemed in a great measure recovered from her illness, now made a hearty meal of the dead bird, and then went to sleep with much apparent satisfaction.
text: Indeed, the worthy gentleman, stimulated perhaps by the immediate prospect of being in active service, was in great spirits and good-humour; in proof whereof it may be here remarked that he humorously drank all the beer at a draught, and did not utter, on a rough calculation, more than four-score oaths during the whole progress of the meal.
ref: 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Wherein Oliver Is Delivered over to Mr. William Sikes”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 15–16:
text: After the meal, he rinsed the cans they had eaten from (marveling again at his own water extravagance), and when he turned around, Jake was asleep again.
ref: 1981 February, Stephen King, “The Oracle and the Mountains”, in Edward L[ewis] Ferman, editor, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 60, number 2 (whole 329), Cornwall, Conn.: Mercury Press, Inc., →ISSN, page 21, column 2:
text: Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
ref: 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
text: 2016, Melissa Clark, Consider This Permission to Eat Burrata for Dinner in The New York Timesː
In this recipe, I go even further, adding a robust salad to turn a lone cheese into a satisfying summer meal.
glosses: Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity (as opposed to a snack).
examples: text: a1450, The Macro Playsː
If thou wilt fare well at meat and meal, come and follow me.
text: This is the meal pleasantly set . . . . this is the meat and drink for natural hunger, / It is for the wicked just the same as the righteous . . . .
ref: 1855 July 4, Walt Whitman, “[Song of Myself]”, in Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: [James and Andrew Rome], →OCLC, page 25:
text: Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.
ref: 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 172:
glosses: Food served or eaten as a repast.
examples: text: They [tape recorders] can be turned off while officers are on meal or in the car to protect their private conversations […]
ref: 1994, Brooklyn Barrister, volume 46, page 13:
text: “I was on meal when I heard the call on the radio and recognized the address. What the hell?”
ref: 2019, R. J. Noonan, In the Line of Fire:
glosses: A break taken by a police officer in order to eat.
examples: text: Ye wolde wepe at every mele;
But for my sone wepe ye never a dele.
You would weep at every meal, but for my son you never weep a deal.
ref: The Lamentation of the Virgin Mary (MS. Cantab., Ff. ii., 38, fol. 47.), in: 1847, Thomas Wright (editor), The Chester Plays: A Collection of Mysteries founded upon scriptural Subjects, and formerly represented by the Trades of Chester at Whitsuntide, vol. II, p. 208f.
text: […] by occasion whereoff thai woll than at every mele groche with the kinge […]
[…] by occasion whereof they will, then at every meal, grouch with the king […]
ref: a1400?-a1470?, in: 1999/2006, The Governance of England: Otherwise called The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy. By Sir John Fortescue. A Revised Text edited with Introduction, Notes, and Appendices by Charles Plummer, p. 132
text: a1450, Henry Lovelich, The History of the Holy Grailː
Which was to them a sorry meal.
text: a1450, Henry Lovelich, Merlinː
Also soon as the dragons together feal, betwixt them shall begin a sorry meal.
text: a1450, The York Playsː
What mean ye.. to make mourning at ilk a meal?
text: 1481, William Caxton, Reynard the Foxː
I shall do late you have so much that ten of you should not eat it at one meal.
text: a1500, Alexander-Cassamus Fragmentː
Of all the day throughout, keep I no better meal than on her to think.
text: c1500, In A Chyrchː
Thou couth well weep at every meal.
glosses: A time or an occasion.
Synonyms: word: meal
word: mese
word: refection
word: repast
Hypernyms: word: food
word: event
Hyponyms: word: afternoon tea
word: andersmeat
word: barbecue
word: breakfast
word: brunch
word: collation
word: dinner
word: lunch
word: luncheon
word: midnight feast
word: midnight snack
word: picnic
word: snack
word: supper
word: tea
word: undermeal
word: undern
Meronyms: word: foodstuff
word: drink
Derived terms: barium meal
box meal
cat in the meal-tub
cheat meal
daymeal
enjoy your meal
family meal
full-course meal
guestmeal
happy meal
Indian meal moth
intermeal
intrameal
last meal
main meal
make a meal of
make a meal out of
malt-o-meal
-meal
meal deal
mealer
mealless
meal marker
meal prep
mealprep
meal station
meal ticket
mealtide
mealtime
meal voucher
mealware
microwave meal
midmeal
miss-meal colic
night meal
nonmeal
packed meal
plate meal
postmeal
premeal
ready meal
school meal
square meal
struggle meal
Thomas meal
undermeal
Related terms: word: chips with everything
word: meat and three
word: meat and two veg
word: meat and potatoes
word: :Category:Meals