Word: meat Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d-der. Proto-Germanic *matiz Proto-West Germanic *mati Old English mete Middle English mete English meat Inherited from Middle English mete (“food”), from Old English mete (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic *mati (“food”), from Proto-Germanic *matiz (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to be wet; grease, fat”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Miit (“meat”), Danish mad (“food”), Faroese and Icelandic matur (“food, meal”), Norn mader (“food”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish mat (“food”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍄𐍃 (mats, “food”). A -ja- derivation from the same base is found in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German met (“lean pork”), from which Dutch met (“minced pork”) and German Mett (“minced meat”) derive, respectively. Compare also Old Irish mess (“animal feed”) and Welsh mes (“acorns”), English mast (“fodder for swine and other animals”), which are probably from the same root. Pronunciation: /miːt/, /mit/, /miːʔ/, /miːh/ 1. The flesh (muscle tissue) of a killed animal used as food. Labels: uncountable Example: A large portion of domestic meat production comes from animals raised on factory farms. Example: The homesteading teenager shot a deer to supply his family with wild meat for the winter. 2. A food designed to replicate its taste and texture (such as plant-based meat). Labels: countable, uncountable 3. A type of meat, by anatomic position and provenance. Labels: countable Example: The butchery's profit rate on various meats varies greatly. Example: It should come as no surprise that while the peasants are expected to eat fermented fungi, lab-grown meats and maggot milkshakes, the Controligarchs — with their private chefs — have no intention of doing the same. 4. Food, for animals or humans, especially solid food. Labels: archaic, countable, dialectal, uncountable Example: meat and drink Example: I was anhongred, and ye gave me meate. I thursted, and ye gave me drinke. 5. A type of food, a dish. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable 6. A meal. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: And hit cam to passe, thatt Jesus satt at meate in his housse. 7. Meal; flour. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable 8. Any relatively thick, solid part of a fruit, nut etc. Labels: uncountable Example: The apple looked fine on the outside, but the meat was not very firm. Example: She took her spoon and stirred the melted butter into the yellow meat of the yam. 9. A penis. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar Example: He sits me on the floor (the shower is still beating down on us). He lays me down and slides his huge meat into me. Example: Just the tight, hot caress of his bowels surrounding my meat gave me pleasures I had only dreamed of before that day. 10. The best or most substantial part of something. Labels: colloquial, countable, uncountable Example: […]it is time to begin "A Dialogue between Viator and Piscator," which is the meat of the matter. Example: The editor called the new "novels" book-lengthers without the trivialities and slow development of the usual novel. "They have all the plot complications, meat and excitement that readers demand," he stated. 11. The sweet spot of a bat or club (in cricket, golf, baseball etc.). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: He hit it right on the meat of the bat. 12. A meathead. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: Throw it in here, meat. 13. A totem, or (by metonymy) a clan or clansman which uses it. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: When a stranger comes to an aboriginal camp or settlement in north-western NSW, he is asked by one of the older aborigines: "What meat (clan) are you?" Example: Granny Sullivan was ‘dead against’ the match at first because they did not know "what my meat was and because I was a bit on the fair side."