meal
1 Americannoun
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the food served and eaten especially at one of the customary, regular occasions for taking food during the day, as breakfast, lunch, or supper.
-
one of these regular occasions or times for eating food.
noun
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a coarse, unsifted powder ground from the edible seeds of any grain.
wheat meal;
cornmeal.
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any ground or powdery substance, as of nuts or seeds, resembling this.
noun
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any of the regular occasions, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc, when food is served and eaten
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( in combination )
mealtime
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the food served and eaten
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informal to perform (a task) with unnecessarily great effort
noun
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the edible part of a grain or pulse (excluding wheat) ground to a coarse powder, used chiefly as animal food
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oatmeal
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maize flour
Other Word Forms
- meal-less adjective
- mealless adjective
Etymology
Origin of meal1
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English mǣl “measure, fixed time, occasion”; cognate with German Mal “time,” Mahl “meal,” Old Norse māl, Gothic mēl “time, hour”
Origin of meal2
First recorded before 900; Middle English mele, Old English melu; cognate with German Mehl, Dutch meel, Old Norse mjǫl, Gothic malan; akin to Latin molere “to grind” ( mill 1 )
Origin of -meal3
Middle English -mele, Old English -mǣlum, combining form representing mǣl meal 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some people rushed to grocery stores to stockpile goods, though motorcycles delivering takeout meals and groceries continued to zip around the city.
The neighborhood tavern is getting a revival as the go-to place for a good meal, a cold drink and a sense of community.
The rolling robots that deliver groceries and hot meals across Los Angeles are getting an upgrade.
From Los Angeles Times
Or even just the cinema, go for a nice meal.
From BBC
“A tropical weather pattern makes them really active, busy biting, getting blood meals and laying eggs,” said Cary Svoboda, supervisor of Ventura County’s vector control program.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
