meal

• IPA^(key): /miːl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /mil/, [miəɫ]

• Audio (UK):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -iːl

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”).

meal (countable and uncountable, plural meals)

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2. (countable) Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity (as opposed to a snack).

   Breakfast is the morning meal, lunch is the noon meal, and dinner, or supper, is the evening meal.

   • c1450, Secreta Secretorumː

     He that will cast meal upon meal is not able to have (a) long life.

   • c1500, The King and the Hermitː

     I have been there and taken deal / And have had many (a) merry meal.

   • 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.

   • 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.

   • 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:

     Ere we will eate our Meale in feare, and ſleepe / In the affliction of theſe terrible Dreames, / That ſhake vs Nightly: […]

   • 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:

     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: […]

   • 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.

   • 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.

   • 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.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

     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.

   • 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.

3. (countable) Food served or eaten as a repast.
   • a1450, The Macro Playsː

     If thou wilt fare well at meat and meal, come and follow me.

   • 1855 July 4, Walt Whitman, “[Song of Myself]”, in Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: [James and Andrew Rome], →OCLC, page 25:

     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 . . . .

   • 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 172:

     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.

4. (uncountable, informal) A break taken by a police officer in order to eat.
   • 1994, Brooklyn Barrister, volume 46, page 13:

     They [tape recorders] can be turned off while officers are on meal or in the car to protect their private conversations […]

   • 2019, R. J. Noonan, In the Line of Fire:

     “I was on meal when I heard the call on the radio and recognized the address. What the hell?”

5. (obsolete) A time or an occasion.
   • 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.:

     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.

   • 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:

     […] 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 […]

   • a1450, Henry Lovelich, The History of the Holy Grailː

     Which was to them a sorry meal.

   • a1450, Henry Lovelich, Merlinː

     Also soon as the dragons together feal, betwixt them shall begin a sorry meal.

   • a1450, The York Playsː

     What mean ye.. to make mourning at ilk a meal?

   • 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.

   • a1500, Alexander-Cassamus Fragmentː

     Of all the day throughout, keep I no better meal than on her to think.

   • c1500, In A Chyrchː

     Thou couth well weep at every meal.

• In the fourth sense, meal is a fossil word and is usually found in the archaic/obsolete phrase "at every (ilk a) meal" meaning "on every occasion", compare also "at ilk a tide". It fell out of common usage in the late 15th century. Also, "at one meal" sometimes meant at a time, at once, at one time or in one go; see also German auf einmal (literally “upon one meal”). "To keep (the) meal" probably used to mean "to use/spend one's time". A "sorry meal" used to mean a "grim occasion" such as a fight, setback, mishap or some sort of other misfortune.

• Meal, in the sense of "time" or "occasion", also survives in other set phrases, such as piecemeal (“one piece at a time”), footmeal (“one foot at a time”), heapmeal (“in large numbers”) etc.

• See also Thesaurus:meal

The Middle English Dictionary

From Middle English mele, from Old English melu (“meal, flour”), from Proto-West Germanic *melu, from Proto-Germanic *melwą (“meal, flour”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, mill”).

meal (countable and uncountable, plural meals)

2. The coarse-ground edible part of various grains often used to feed animals; flour or a coarser blend than flour.

   Coordinate term: flour

   • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

     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.

meal (third-person singular simple present meals, present participle mealing, simple past and past participle mealed)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To yield or be plentiful in meal.
   • 1876, Notes and Queries, page 73:

     Of course the yield of grain was small, but much greater than could have been expected; and, the ears being well filled, it mealed well. The pastures were burnt up, so that there was nothing left for the cattle to eat.

Variation of mole (compare Scots mail), from Middle English mole, mool, from Old English māl, mǣl (“spot, mark, blemish”), from Proto-Germanic *mailą (“wrinkle, spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to soil”). More at mole.

meal (plural meals)

1. (UK dialectal) A speck or spot.
2. A part; a fragment; a portion.

meal (third-person singular simple present meals, present participle mealing, simple past and past participle mealed)

1. (transitive) To defile or taint.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     Were he meal'd with that / Which he corrects, than were he tyrannous.

• Elma, mela, mela-, amel, alme, Lema, male-, Male, male, leam, lame, lamé, Leam, Elam, Malé, lema

• mealu

From Albanian mal,^[1] cognate to Aromanian mal and Romanian mal with the same origin.

meal n (plural mealuri)

1. steep, scarped shore region
2. (figurative) boondocks

meal (present analytic mealann, future analytic mealfaidh, verbal noun mealadh, past participle mealta)

1. Alternative form of meil (“to grind”)

meal ?

1. meaning

meal m

1. (Sutsilvan) Alternative form of mel (“honey”)

From Middle Irish melaid (“to consume”), from Old Irish melaid (“to grind”), from Proto-Celtic *meleti (“to grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-. Doublet of meil.

• IPA^(key): /mjal̪ˠ/

meal (past mheal, future mealaidh, verbal noun mealadh or mealtainn, past participle mealte)

1. enjoy

• còrd ri
• gabh tlachd ann

• meal do naidheachd, meal ur naidheachd (“congratulations”)