lunch
[luhnch]
- to eat lunch: We lunched quite late today.
- to provide lunch for: They lunched us in regal fashion.
- out to lunch, Slang. not paying attention or tending to business; negligent: You must have been out to lunch when you wrote that weird report.
Origin of lunch
First recorded in 1585–95; short for luncheon
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for lunches
Contemporary Examples
This is why Web tools are valuable, as are lunches at taco stands.
There was nothing to dwell on because there would be countless more brunches and breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
As opposed to, say, looking like every other lady who lunches from New England.
Students had to rely on the kindness of classmates, some of whom offered to share their lunches.
Adam Begley, who was books editor of the newspaper for twelve years, remembers their lunches.
Historical Examples
Some were so unscrupulous as to bring their lunches with them.
Pee-wee HarrisPercy Keese Fitzhugh
Story after story fell from her lips; lunch time came—but there were no lunches.
Kristy's Rainy Day PicnicOlive Thorne Miller
Upon that day we prepared twenty lunches, which were most thankfully received.
Plantation SketchesMargaret Devereux
In fact it was she who prepared the lunches to give to any one in distress.
Hester's CounterpartJean K. Baird
His only diversions were the rides and the lunches which he took with Helen.
The Light of the StarHamlin Garland
lunch
- a meal eaten during the middle of the day
- Caribbean (among older people) mid-afternoon tea
- (intr) to eat lunch
- (tr) to provide or buy lunch for
Word Origin
C16: probably short form of luncheon
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for lunches
lunch
n.
"mid-day repast," 1786, shortened form of luncheon (q.v.). The verb meaning "to take to lunch" (said to be from the noun) also is attested from 1786:
PRATTLE. I always to be ſure, makes a point to keep up the dignity of the family I lives in. Wou'd you take a more ſolid refreſhment?--Have you lunch'd, Mr. Bribe?
BRIBE. Lunch'd O dear! Permit me, my dear Mrs. Prattle, to refreſh my sponge, upon the honey dew that clings to your raviſhing pouters. O! Mrs. Prattle, this ſhall be my lunch. (kiſſes)
["The Mode," in William Davies' "Plays Written for a Private Theatre," London, 1786]
But as late as 1817 the only definition of lunch in Webster's is "a large piece of food." OED says in 1820s the word "was regarded either as a vulgarism, or as a fashionable affectation." Related: Lunched; lunching. Lunch money is attested from 1868; lunch-time (n.) is from 1821; lunch hour is from 1840. Slang phrase out to lunch "insane, stupid, clueless" first recorded 1955, on notion of being "not there." Old English had nonmete "afternoon meal," literally "noon-meat."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with lunches
lunch
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.