breakfast

[brek-fuh st]

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noun

the first meal of the day; morning meal: A hearty breakfast was served at 7 a.m.

the food eaten at the first meal of the day: a breakfast of bacon and eggs.

verb (used without object)

to eat breakfast: He breakfasted on bacon and eggs.

verb (used with object)

to supply with breakfast: We breakfasted the author in the finest restaurant.

Origin of breakfast

First recorded in 1425–75, breakfast is from the late Middle English word brekfast. See break, fast²

Related formsbreak·fast·er, nounbreak·fast·less, adjectivepost·break·fast, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for breakfast

brunch

Examples from the Web for breakfast

Contemporary Examples of breakfast

There were stomachs, taut and flat, but also undulating bellies, soft and bloated from the breakfast buffet.
Powerful Congressman Writes About ‘Fleshy Breasts’
Asawin Suebsaeng
January 7, 2015
For Paul, the thrill of breakfast with the Reverend, may be giving way to the taste of burnt toast.
GOP Won’t Forgive Rand for Cop Critique
Lloyd Green
December 23, 2014
But I live near really smart, thoughtful people who take writing very seriously, and I can meet them for breakfast and talk books.
The Veteran Who Took Home the National Book Award
Jacob Siegel
November 25, 2014
One hundred meters from the entrance to the Korengal we stop for breakfast.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley
Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman
November 15, 2014
The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast has a tendency to lose its guests in the middle of the night.
Would You Stay in Lizzie Borden’s Ax-Murder House?
Nina Strochlic
October 30, 2014

Historical Examples of breakfast

On a morning late in May Mrs. Bines and her daughter were at breakfast.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
You can't get them too cold for Perce at breakfast, nowadays.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
You began to look bad as soon as you left off your breakfast.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
The Bineses, with the exception of Psyche, were at breakfast a week later.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
Why, we wasted enough from breakfast to feed a small family.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for breakfast

breakfast

noun

the first meal of the day
(as modifier)breakfast cereal; a breakfast room

the food at this meal

(in the Caribbean) a midday meal

verb

to eat or supply with breakfast

Derived Formsbreakfaster, noun

Word Origin for breakfast

C15: from break + fast ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for breakfast

mid-15c., from break (v.) + fast (n.). The verb is recorded from 1670s. Related: Breakfasted; breakfasting.

Spanish almuerzo "lunch," but formerly and still locally "breakfast," is from Latin admorsus, past participle of admordere "to bite into," from ad- "to" + mordere "to bite." In common with almuerzo, words for "breakfast" tend over time to shift in meaning toward "lunch;" cf. French déjeuner "breakfast," later "lunch" (equivalent of Spanish desayuno "breakfast"), both from Vulgar Latin *disieiunare "to breakfast," from Latin dis- + ieiunare, jejunare "fast" (see jejune; also cf. dine). German Frühstück is from Middle High German vruostücke, literally "early bit." Old English had morgenmete "morning meal."