MEAL

meal

(noun) coarsely ground foodstuff; especially seeds of various cereal grasses or pulse

meal, repast

(noun) the food served and eaten at one time

meal

(noun) any of the occasions for eating food that occur by custom or habit at more or less fixed times

Source: WordNet® 3.1

---

Etymology 1

Noun

meal (plural meals)

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

Food served or eaten as a repast.

(obsolete) A time or an occasion.

Usage notes

• In the third sense, meal is a fossil word and is usually found in the archaic/obsolete phrase "at every (ilk a) meal" meaning "on every occasion", confer 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.

Hyponyms

• See also meal

Etymology 2

Noun

meal (countable and uncountable, plural meals)

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

Coordinate terms

• flour

Verb

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

(intransitive, obsolete) To yield or be plentiful in meal.

Etymology 3

Noun

meal (plural meals)

(UK dialectal) A speck or spot.

A part; a fragment; a portion.

Verb

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

(transitive) To defile or taint.

Anagrams

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

Source: Wiktionary

---

Meal, n. Etym: [OE. mele, AS. m part, portion, portion of time; akin to E. meal a repast. Cf. Piecemeal.]

Definition: A part; a fragment; a portion. [Obs.]

Meal, n. Etym: [OE. mel; akin to E. meal a part, and to D. maal time, meal, G. mal time, mahl meal, Icel. mal measure, time, meal, Goth. m time, and to E. measure. See Measure.]

Definition: The portion of food taken at a particular time for the satisfaction of appetite; the quantity usually taken at one time with the purpose of satisfying hunger; a repast; the acas, the traveler has not eaten a good meal for a week; there was silence during the meal. What strange fish Hath made his meal on thee Shak.

Meal, n. Etym: [OE. mele, AS. melu, melo; akin to D. meel, G. mehl, OHG. melo, Icel. mjöl, SW. mjöl, Dan. meel, also to D. malen to grind, G. mahlen, OHG., OS., & Goth. malan, Icel. mala, W. malu, L. molere, Gr. mill. Mill, Mold soil, Mole an animal, Immolate, Molar.]

1. Grain (esp. maize, rye, or oats) that is coarsely ground and unbolted; also, a kind of flour made from beans, pease, etc.; sometimes, any flour, esp. if coarse.

2. Any substance that is coarsely pulverized like meal, but not granulated. Meal beetle (Zoöl.), the adult of the meal worm. See Meal worm, below.

– Meal moth (Zoöl.), a lepidopterous insect (Asopia farinalis), the larvæ of which feed upon meal, flour, etc.

– Meal worm (Zoöl.), the larva of a beetle (Tenebrio molitor) which infests granaries, bakehouses, etc., and is very injurious to flour and meal.

Meal, v. t.

1. To sprinkle with, or as with, meal. Shak.

2. To pulverize; as, mealed powder.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

---