luncheon
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of luncheon
1570–80; dissimilated variant of nuncheon (now dial.), Middle English none ( s ) chench noon drink, equivalent to none noon + schench, Old English scenc a drink, cup, akin to Old English scencan to pour out, give drink, cognate with Dutch, German schenken
Explanation
A luncheon is lunch, but more formal. You might be served watercress sandwiches and fruit salad at a book club luncheon, while plain old lunch might be burgers and fries at the diner. The word luncheon makes its first appearance in English in the late 1500s, in phrases like "a luncheon of bread and cheese." Originally it meant "a thick piece, a hunk" — like a big chunk of bread slathered with cheese. The word may have come from the Spanish lonja, "slice." By the early 19th century, luncheon had taken the formal route, and its abbreviated form, lunch, came to mean the more casual version of the midday meal.
Vocabulary lists containing luncheon
List 9
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List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“As they keep coming up to two, we keep sending them back to the dry cleaners,” Mr. Trump told the sold-out New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women’s 76th Lilac Luncheon.
From Washington Times • Jun. 27, 2023
The event was advertised on Facebook as an opportunity to “Worship and Luncheon with Herschel Walker.”
From Washington Post • Oct. 4, 2022
The comment was made at the Republican Women of Greater Wisconsin Luncheon at Alioto's in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, according to CNN.
From Salon • Sep. 29, 2022
“After four weeks we’ll go from there,” Rivera said at the Commanders’ preseason Welcome Home Luncheon.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 1, 2022
Luncheon was spread informally on the two long service tables, and the girls helped themselves.
From The Twins in the South by Whitehill, Dorothy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
