lunch
Americannoun
-
lunches
plural
verb (used without object)
-
lunches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lunched,
past participle, past
-
lunching
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
lunches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lunched,
past participle, past
-
lunching
present participle
idioms
noun
-
a meal eaten during the middle of the day
-
(among older people) mid-afternoon tea
verb
-
(intr) to eat lunch
-
(tr) to provide or buy lunch for
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
lunchsimple
-
lunchessimple
-
have lunchedperfect
-
has lunchedperfect
-
am lunchingprogressive
-
are lunchingprogressive
-
is lunchingprogressive
-
have been lunchingperfect progressive
-
has been lunchingperfect progressive
Past
-
lunchedsimple
-
had lunchedperfect
-
was lunchingprogressive
-
were lunchingprogressive
-
had been lunchingperfect progressive
Future
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Asked if there was ever a possibility his players would return for the afternoon session on day one, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper said: "All are OK. We were having lunch at that time."
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
“Plaintiff was the only student selected to remain after others left, yet no one checked on her whereabouts during lunch and no one looked for Scott and plaintiff while they were alone,” Arian wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
It was a strange little society of meats that belonged neither behind the butcher counter nor among the premium lunch meats — the thin-sliced turkey in its tidy package, the glossy hunk of honey ham.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
They are aware there is no such thing as a free lunch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
She’s never home at this time; her social calls should keep her away until after lunch.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Between games of table tennis and cheap, hearty lunches, the group remembers a vibrant town, full of people and shops they wanted to go to.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Tastebuds, which was conceived as a plan to escape sad office lunches, has turned into a platform for hole-in-the-wall restaurants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Noticing a need for affordable meals, Palacios and fellow USC student Josiah Herfurth spent this past semester hosting $10-per-person lunches at their college apartments, dubbing the offering Cafe 10:31.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Her world looks and operates like ours, and that means there are no free lunches.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
Gabriel and Ethan go on eating their lunches.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
They never divorced and lunched together almost daily.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025
On our second date, we lunched at a Japanese restaurant, where he asked about my values and dreams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2025
In the statement Monday noting Rubiales’ resignation, after Ceferin had lunched with the women delegates, there was praise but not words of solidarity toward the Spanish players or women’s soccer in general.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2023
The pangrams from yesterday’s Spelling Bee were lunched and unclenched.
From New York Times ● Dec. 10, 2021
I knew the other clerks and young bond-salesmen by their first names and lunched with them in dark crowded restaurants on little pig sausages and mashed potatoes and coffee.
From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The two leaders ended up getting on well, even lunching together at times, despite belonging to different camps, said a senior U.S. defense official.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Munir accompanied Sharif during a visit to Washington in June, lunching with Trump.
From Barron's ● Apr. 12, 2026
A walkway runs along the length of it, passing by a giant dinosaur skeleton, a beach volleyball pitch and dozens of Googlers lunching under the hazy November sun.
From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2025
Sims made the comment while he was lunching with Matt Troyka, a Democrat who voted for Kamala Harris in 2024.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2025
Later that day, I took Barack to lunch at the fancy restaurant on the first floor of our office building, a place packed with well-groomed bankers and lawyers power lunching over meals priced like dinners.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
