meal

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English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Middle English, from Old English mǣl (“measure, time, occasion, set time, time for eating, meal”), from Proto-Germanic *mēlą, from Proto-Indo-European *mē-, *me- (“to measure”). Cognate with Dutch maal (“meal, time, occurrence”), German Mal (“time”), Mahl (“meal”), Swedish mål (“meal”); and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”), Latin mensus, Russian мера (mera, “measure”), Lithuanian mẽtas. Related to Old English mǣþ (“measure, degree, proportion”).

Noun [edit]

meal (plural meals)

  1. Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time (e.g. breakfast = morning meal, lunch = noon meal, etc).
Hyponyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
food that is prepared and eaten

Etymology 2 [edit]

From Middle English mele, from Old English melu (“meal, flour”), from Proto-Germanic *melwą (“meal, flour”), from Proto-Indo-European *mel-, *mol(w)ə- (“to grind, mill”). Cognate with West Frisian moal, Dutch meel, German Mehl, Albanian miell, Old Church Slavonic melvo (“grain to be ground”), Dutch malen (“to grind”), German mahlen (“to grind”), Old Irish melim (“I grind”), Latin molō (“I grind”), Tocharian A/B malywët (“you press”)/melye (“they tread on”), Lithuanian málti, Old Church Slavonic млѣти (mlěti), Ancient Greek μύλη (mýlē, “mill”). More at mill.

Noun [edit]

meal (uncountable)

  1. The coarse-ground edible part of various grains often used to feed animals; flour.
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
coarse-ground edible part of various grains

Etymology 3 [edit]

Variation of mole (compare Scots mail), from Middle English mole, mool, from Old English māl, mǣl (“spot, mark, blemish”), from Proto-Germanic *mailą (“wrinkle, spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to soil”). More at mole.

Noun [edit]

meal (plural meals)

  1. (UK dialectal) A speck or spot.
  2. A part; a fragment; a portion.

Verb [edit]

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

  1. (transitive) To defile or taint.
    Were he meal'd with that / Which he corrects, than were he tyrannous. ― Shakespeare.

Anagrams [edit]

Aromanian [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Probably of the same origin as mal.

Noun [edit]

meal

  1. steep, scarped shore region
  2. (figuratively) boondocks

Kurdish [edit]

Noun [edit]

meal gender unspecified

  1. meaning

Romansch [edit]

Alternative forms [edit]

  • (Rumantsch Grischun) mel
  • (Sursilvan) mèl
  • (Surmiran) mêl

Etymology [edit]

From Latin mel, from Proto-Indo-European *mélid.

Noun [edit]

meal m

  1. (Sutsilvan) honey

Scottish Gaelic [edit]

Verb [edit]

meal (present participle mealadh or mealtainn)

  1. enjoy

Synonyms [edit]

Derived terms [edit]

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