Undermeal
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Synonym of undern: originally terce and the morning, later (UK, dialectal, obsolete) noon and the early afternoon. obsolete
"By the time—he hath din'd at a taverne, and slept his undermeals at a bawdy-house, his purse is [empty]."
- 2 Synonym of siesta: an afternoon nap. obsolete
"In a narrower limit than the forty years' undermeal of the seven sleepers."
- 3 An afternoon meal or snack. obsolete
"Another great supper, or undermeal, was made ready for them, coming home from ditching and plowing."
Example
More examples"By the time—he hath din'd at a taverne, and slept his undermeals at a bawdy-house, his purse is [empty]."
Etymology
From Middle English undermele, undermel (“the early part of the afternoon, midday, noon; an afternoon meal or nap”), from Old English undernmǣl (“morning, morning time; morning meal”), equivalent to undern + meal. Compare the word for midday and the word undern.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.