eatery
Americannoun
plural
eateriesnoun
Etymology
Origin of eatery
Explanation
Use the word eatery when you're talking about a cafe or restaurant. You might stop at a great local eatery for a burger after seeing a movie. Eatery is a casual or informal word for a place to buy and eat prepared food. A diner is one kind of eatery, and a Chinese restaurant is another. You might have a favorite eatery among all the choices on a college campus, or know of an all-night eatery where you can get a snack at three a.m. Eatery was first used right around 1901, from eat, with its Old English root of etan, "to eat, devour, or consume."
Vocabulary lists containing eatery
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.
In a brief phone interview, a worker at Unique Bite Eatery in Indio appeared nonplussed and said there was no damage at the restaurant.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 19, 2026
His Place Eatery – His Place Eatery is a soul food and BBQ restaurant with two locations in Indianapolis.
From Salon • Jan. 13, 2026
"My immediate family ... were shocked," she said, after lunching at plant-based restaurant Lexi's Healthy Eatery in Johannesburg.
From Reuters • Nov. 3, 2022
Stop in at Kuzma’s Fish Market and Eatery for the finest- quality, freshly caught seafood, much of it on display in saltwater tanks.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 4, 2022
Moviehouse & Eatery offered refunds to its guests, but most of the moviegoers chose to stay for the remainder of the film.
From Washington Times • Mar. 8, 2022
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.
