lunch

[ luhnch ]
See synonyms for: lunchlunchedlunching on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a light midday meal between breakfast and dinner; luncheon.

  2. any light meal or snack.

  1. a restaurant or lunchroom: Let's eat at the dairy lunch.

verb (used without object)
  1. to eat lunch: We lunched quite late today.

verb (used with object)
  1. to provide lunch for: They lunched us in regal fashion.

Idioms about lunch

  1. 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

1
First recorded in 1585–95; short for luncheon

Other words from lunch

  • luncher, noun
  • lunchless, adjective
  • pre·lunch, adjective, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use lunch in a sentence

  • When the weather permitted, the girls ate their lunches on the curbs and on the stoops of houses in the immediate neighborhood.

    The Leaven in a Great City | Lillian William Betts
  • They brought their own lunches and paid a small amount of dues, which were used to pay for tea served daily.

    The Leaven in a Great City | Lillian William Betts
  • The poor fellows were able to stave off starvation by visiting various free lunches during the day.

    The Iron Puddler | James J. Davis
  • Lunches like these in wind and drift are uncomfortable enough for every one to be eager to start again as soon as possible.

    The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson
  • Large lunches were always provided, in case of our getting becalmed, or stuck on the mud, both very frequent occurrences.

British Dictionary definitions for lunch

lunch

/ (lʌntʃ) /


noun
  1. a meal eaten during the middle of the day

  2. Caribbean (among older people) mid-afternoon tea

verb
  1. (intr) to eat lunch

  2. (tr) to provide or buy lunch for

Origin of lunch

1
C16: probably short form of luncheon

Derived forms of lunch

  • luncher, noun

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with lunch

lunch

see eat someone alive (someone's lunch); free lunch; lose one's lunch; out to (lunch).

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.