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Meal

//miːl// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun

1
Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity (as opposed to a snack). countable
"Breakfast is the morning meal, lunch is the noon meal, and dinner, or supper, is the evening meal."
2
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). countable, uncountable
"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."
3
A speck or spot. UK, dialectal
4
coarsely ground foodstuff; especially seeds of various cereal grasses or pulse wordnet
5
Food served or eaten as a repast. countable
"a1450, The Macro Playsː If thou wilt fare well at meat and meal, come and follow me."

Show 7 more definitions

6
Any of various similarly granular materials prepared from other sources, such as bones or wood. countable, uncountable
7
A part; a fragment; a portion.
8
the food served and eaten at one time wordnet
9
A break taken by a police officer in order to eat. informal, uncountable
"They [tape recorders] can be turned off while officers are on meal or in the car to protect their private conversations […]"
10
Any of various other granular or powdery materials, either ground by humans or occurring in nature, named figuratively after a resemblance to grain meal. countable, uncountable
11
any of the occasions for eating food that occur by custom or habit at more or less fixed times wordnet
12
A time or an occasion. countable, obsolete
"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."

Verb

1
To yield or be plentiful in meal. intransitive, obsolete
"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."
2
To defile or taint. transitive
"Were he meal'd with that / Which he corrects, than were he tyrannous."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

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”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian moal, Dutch meel, German Mehl, Albanian miell, Proto-Slavic *melvo (“grain to be ground”) (Bulgarian мливо (mlivo)), Dutch malen (“to grind”), German mahlen (“to grind”), Old Irish melim (“I grind”), Latin molō (“I grind”), Tocharian A/B malywët (“you press”)/melye (“they tread on”), Lithuanian málti, Old Church Slavonic млѣти (mlěti), Ancient Greek μύλη (múlē, “mill”). More at mill.

Etymology 3

Etymology 4

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.

Etymology 5

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