meal

Meaning

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).
2. Food served or eaten as a repast.
3. (informal) A break taken by a police officer in order to eat.
4. (obsolete) A time or an occasion.

Verb

To yield or be plentiful in meal.

Verb

To defile or taint.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/miːl/

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”).