munch

See also: Munch

English

Etymology

From Middle English monchen, a variant of mocchen, mucchen ("to munch (food); chew audibly"; > Modern English dialectal mouch), probably imitative in origin (compare crunch). Compare also Old French mangier, mengier (“to bite; eat”), of similar sound and meaning.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mʌntʃ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌntʃ

Verb

munch (third-person singular simple present munches, present participle munching, simple past and past participle munched)

1. (often with "on") To chew with a grinding, crunching sound, and with the mouth closed.

   Jim was munching on a biscotti.

   • 2012 June 17, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Homer’s Triple Bypass” (season 4, episode 11; originally aired 12/17/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:

     At work Mr. Burns spies Homer munching complacently on a donut and hisses that each donut Homer shoves into his fat face brings him one donut closer to the poisoned donut Mr. Burns has ordered thrown into the mix as a form of culinary Russian Roulette, only to learn from Smithers that the plant’s lawyers ultimately nixed the poisoned donut plan because “they consider it murder.”

2. To eat vigorously or with excitement.

   Watching old Bill munch his pancakes makes me hungry!

   • 2013 August 3, “Revenge of the Nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

     Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.

Derived terms

• muncher
• munchy

Translations

to chew

• Bulgarian: жвакам (žvakam)
• Cornish: densel
• Czech: přežvykovat, žmoulat (cs)
• Finnish: rouskuttaa (fi)
• German: mampfen (de), geräuschvoll kauen
• Maori: kamu
• Norwegian: knaske
• Portuguese: mastigar ruidosamente
• Romanian: molfăi (ro), plescăi (ro)
• Russian: ча́вкать (ru) (čávkatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: mljackati (sh), žvakati (sh)
• Swedish: mumsa (sv)
• ǃXóõ: gʘkxʻái

to eat vigorously

• Cornish: densel
• Finnish: ahmia (fi)
• German: fressen (de), futtern (de), schmausen (de), schnabulieren (de)
• Portuguese: devorar, papar
• Swedish: mumsa (sv)

Noun

munch (plural munches)

1. A location or restaurant where good eating can be expected.

   Sally is having a breakfast munch at her place!

2. (colloquial) An act of eating.

   We had a good munch at the chippy.

3. (uncountable, slang) Food.
4. (BDSM) A casual meeting for those interested in BDSM, usually at a restaurant.
   • 1996, peh^ – the prat with the hat, “What Is a 'Munch'?”, in alt.sex.femdom, Usenet:

     And thanks to the stunning paxie for getting it all together and creating the best munch ever in the history of munches. :)

   • 2000, Anton, “BDSM Parties and Munches”, in alt.sadistic, Usenet:

     does anyone know any BDSM parties and munches, in greece???

5. (New York Drill, music, slang) A guy who is overly obsessed with a girl but is only good for performing oral sex.
   • 2022, “w:Munch (Feelin' U)”, performed by Ice Spice:

     You thought I was feelin' you? (Nah) That nigga a munch.

Luxembourgish

Alternative forms

• muench, munnech

Etymology

From Middle High German manec, from Old High German manag. Cognate with German manch, Dutch menig, English many.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /munɕ/

Pronoun

munch

1. many

Declension

Declension of munch

Case	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	munchen	munch	muncht/munches	munch
Accusative	munchen	munch	muncht/munches	munch
Dative	munchem	muncher	munchem	munchen

Derived terms

• munchmol