lunch

American  

[luhnch] / lʌntʃ /

noun

1. a light midday meal between breakfast and dinner; luncheon.

2. any light meal or snack.

3. a restaurant or lunchroom.

   Let's eat at the dairy lunch.

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verb (used without object)

lunches, present (3rd person singular) lunched, past participle, past lunching present participle

1. to eat lunch.

   We lunched quite late today.

verb (used with object)

lunches, present (3rd person singular) lunched, past participle, past lunching present participle

1. to provide lunch for.

   They lunched us in regal fashion.

idioms

1. out to lunch, not paying attention or tending to business; negligent.

   You must have been out to lunch when you wrote that weird report.

lunch British  

/ lʌntʃ /

noun

1. a meal eaten during the middle of the day

2. (among older people) mid-afternoon tea

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verb

1. (intr) to eat lunch

2. (tr) to provide or buy lunch for

lunch More Idioms  

1. see eat someone alive (someone's lunch); free lunch; lose one's lunch; out to (lunch).

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• luncher
  noun
• lunchless
  adjective
• prelunch
  adjective

Conjugated Forms

Present

• has lunched
  perfect 3rd person singular
• have lunched
  perfect
• am lunching
  progressive 1st person singular
• have been lunching
  perfect progressive
• lunching
  participle
• has been lunching
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular
• lunches
  singular 3rd person
• are lunching
  progressive
• is lunching
  progressive 3rd person singular

Past

• had lunched
  perfect
• was lunching
  progressive singular
• had been lunching
  perfect progressive
• lunched
  simple
• lunched
  participle
• were lunching
  progressive plural

Future

• will lunch
  simple
• will have lunched
  perfect
• will have been lunching
  perfect progressive
• will be lunching
  progressive

Etymology

Origin of lunch

First recorded in 1585–95; short for luncheon

Explanation

Lunch is the meal you eat in the middle of the day. If you only have a short lunch break during your school or work day, you might quickly eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The size of your lunch depends on what country you live in. In the US, most people eat a small lunch and a larger dinner at the end of the day. The word is a somewhat fancy verb, too: "Shall we lunch at the club, or have the cook make us something at home?" Lunch is a shortened version of luncheon, which may stem from the earlier dialectical lunch, "hunk of bread and cheese."

Example Sentences

I plunked down at a gaming station and embarrassed myself playing “Mario Kart” over a lunch of Diet Coke and Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream chips.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026

The home side began their post-Ashes rebuild by beating the Black Caps by 115 runs before lunch on the fourth day.

From BBC • Jun. 7, 2026

At lunch, he could afford only corn on a stick.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 2026

A body that cannot agree on lunch agreed on this.

From Slate • Jun. 6, 2026

We took a lunch break, both of us diving into our dashboards to check on our stats and answer comments.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows