Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A meal eaten at midday.
  • noun The food provided for a midday meal.
  • intransitive verb To eat a midday meal.
  • idiom (out to lunch) Not in touch with the real world; crazy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A large lump or piece, as of bread.
  • noun A slight repast or meal between breakfast and dinner, or, as formerly, between dinner and supper, or between dinner or supper and bedtime; luncheon.
  • To take a lunch or luncheon.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A luncheon; specifically, a light repast between breakfast and dinner, most commonly about noontime.
  • intransitive verb To take luncheon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A light meal usually eaten around midday, notably when not as main meal of the day.
  • noun cricket A break in play between the first and second sessions.
  • noun Minnesota, US Any small meal, especially one eaten at a social gathering.
  • verb To eat lunch.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb take the midday meal
  • noun a midday meal
  • verb provide a midday meal for

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for luncheon.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Recorded since 1580; presumably short for luncheon, apparently an alteration from nuncheon, nonechenche "light mid-day meal", itself from none "noon" (from Latin nonus) + schench "drink" (from Old English scenc, from scencan "pour out") and altered by northern English dialect lunch "hunk of bread or cheese" (1590), which probably is from Spanish lonja "a slice" (literally "loin")

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Examples

Comments

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  • Eat the cats and snakes

    And the rodents multiply.

    Dinner is served. (Rats!)

    -- For Vietnamese, The Year of the Rat Starts With Lunch, The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6, 2008 (or see the video).

    February 7, 2008

  • Ooh! Just noticed the online article includes recipes as well...

    February 7, 2008

  • This etymology is some ride.

    January 27, 2024