1. n.1 an occasion when food is eaten.
2 the food eaten on one occasion.
Phrases and idioms:
make a meal of
1. treat (a task etc.) too laboriously or fussily.
2 consume as a meal. meals on wheels Brit. a service by which meals are delivered to old people, invalids, etc.
meal-ticket
1. a ticket entitling one to a meal, esp. at a specified place with reduced cost.
2 a person or thing that is a source of food or income.
Etymology: OE m{aelig}l mark, fixed time, meal f. Gmc 2. n.1 the edible part of any grain or pulse (usu. other than wheat) ground to powder.
2 Sc. oatmeal.
3 US maize flour.
4 any powdery substance made by grinding.
Phrases and idioms:
meal-beetle an insect, Tenebrio molitor, infesting granaries etc. meal-worm the larva of the meal-beetle.
Etymology: OE melu f. Gmc