English Explanatory Dictionary

meal

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
  2. Food served or eaten as a repast.
  3. A break taken by a police officer in order to eat.
  4. A time or an occasion.
noun
  1. The ground-up edible part of various grains, used as a basis of food or feed; either flour or a coarser blend than flour (usage varies).
  2. Any of various similarly granular materials prepared from other sources, such as bones or wood.
  3. Any of various other granular or powdery materials, either ground by humans or occurring in nature, named figuratively after a resemblance to grain meal.
verb
  1. To yield or be plentiful in meal.
noun
  1. A speck or spot.
  2. A part; a fragment; a portion.
verb
  1. To defile or taint.

Pronunciation

/ˈmiːl/ [ˈmɪi̯l] en-uk-a meal.ogg en-us-meal.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-meal.wav

Word forms

meal meals mealing mealed

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”).

Synonyms

meal mese refection repast

Related words

chips with everything meat and three meat and two veg meat and potatoes :Category:Meals

Derived words

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 meal marker meal prep mealprep meal station Meal Team Six 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 mealless barleymeal beanmeal bearmeal beremeal bloodmeal bonemeal bone meal branmeal bread meal cornmeal cottonseed meal cracker meal leafmeal
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