meals on wheels

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noun (sometimes initial capital letter)

a program, usually one supported or subsidized by a charitable, social, or government agency, for delivering hot meals regularly to elderly, disabled, or convalescing persons who are housebound and cannot cook for themselves.

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Origin of meals on wheels

First recorded in 1960–65

Words nearby meals on wheels

mealie, mealie meal, mealie pap, mealies, meal moth, meals on wheels, meal ticket, mealtime, mealworm, mealy, mealybug

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use meals on wheels in a sentence

Just the hard-on before you shoot unarmed members of the public.
'Babylon' Review: The Dumb Lives of Trigger-Happy Cops|Melissa Leon|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Three on-the-record stories from a family: a mother and her daughters who came from Phoenix.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003|Vicky Ward|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
You just travel light with carry-on luggage, go to cities that you love, and get to hang out with all your friends.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It was a brick wall that we turned into the on-ramp of a highway.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Could the (thus far) timid trembling give way to a full-on, grand mal seizure?
26 Earthquakes Later, Fracking’s Smoking Gun Is in Texas|James Joiner|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The order of meals at Lane End was somewhat peculiar even then, and would now be almost unique.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
So strained became the relations between them, that for the last part of the advance they no longer met at meals.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
And when he took an underground stroll he was almost sure to find a few angleworms, which furnished most of his meals.
The Tale of Grandfather Mole|Arthur Scott Bailey
He was between the wheels when we stopped, and I planted a crutch on one of his bare feet and embraced him.
The Soldier of the Valley|Nelson Lloyd
When Yung Pak ate his meals, he sat upon a rug on the floor with his father and such male guests as might be in the house.
Our Little Korean Cousin|H. Lee M. Pike

British Dictionary definitions for meals on wheels

meals on wheels

meals-on-wheels

noun

(functioning as singular) social welfare, British a service, usually subsidized, and run by a social services department or voluntary body, which delivers hot meals to elderly or housebound people who might otherwise be unable to have them

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