meat

[meet]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR meat ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the flesh of animals as used for food.

the edible part of anything, as a fruit or nut: Crack the walnuts and remove the meats.

the essential point or part of an argument, literary work, etc.; gist; crux: The meat of the play is the jealousy between the two brothers.

solid food: meat and drink.

solid or substantial content; pith: The article was full of meat, with few wasted words.

a favorite occupation, activity, etc.: Chess is his meat.

Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. pork, especially bacon.

Slang: Vulgar. penis.

Archaic. the principal meal: to say grace before meat.

Idioms

piece of meat, Slang.

a person regarded merely as a sex object.
a person, as a prizefighter or laborer, regarded merely as a strong or useful physical specimen.

Origin of meat

before 900; Middle English, Old English mete food, cognate with Old High German maz, Old Norse matr, Gothic mats

Related formsmeat·less, adjective

Can be confusedmeat meet

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

Related Words for meat

food, foodstuff, fare, ration, nourishment, edible, grub, aliment, subsistence, nutriment, eats, sustenance, chow, brawn, comestible, provision, muscle, victual, kernel, substance

Examples from the Web for meat

Contemporary Examples of meat

Chickens require significantly less land, water, and energy than all other meat options except farmed salmon.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity
William O’Connor
December 27, 2014
Those raised for their meat (200 million tons of it a year) can barely walk because their breasts have been so enlarged.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity
William O’Connor
December 27, 2014
The freezer is filled with meat, sides of beef and large pieces of lamb.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days
David Freeman
December 13, 2014
He tore a piece of meat off the breast and stroked her coat while she ate.
The Stacks: A Chicken Dinner That Mends Your Heart
Pete Dexter
December 7, 2014
Same for driveway pavers and meat and poultry plant workers.
The Liberal Case Against Illegal Immigration
Doug McIntyre
November 25, 2014

Historical Examples of meat

Ye be my guests, ye wot,” he added, “since ye tarried not for meat at Hyde.
The Armourer's Prentices
Charlotte M. Yonge
(b) What disposal should be made of meat from which stock is made?
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
It is to the length of these fibers that the tenderness of meat is due.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
In the bottom of the pan is a rack upon which the meat may rest.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Then wipe the meat carefully and brown it on all sides in the fat.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

British Dictionary definitions for meat

meat

noun

the flesh of mammals used as food, as distinguished from that of birds and fish

anything edible, esp flesh with the texture of meatcrab meat

food, as opposed to drink

the essence or gist

an archaic word for meal 1

meat and drink a source of pleasure

have one's meat and one's manners Irish informal to lose nothing because one's offer is not accepted

Derived Formsmeatless, adjective

Word Origin for meat

Old English mete; related to Old High German maz food, Old Saxon meti, Gothic mats

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 meat

Old English mete "food, item of food" (paired with drink), from Proto-Germanic *mati (cf. Old Frisian mete, Old Saxon meti, Old Norse matr, Old High German maz, Gothic mats "food," Middle Dutch, Dutch metworst, German Mettwurst "type of sausage"), from PIE *mad-i-, from root *mad- "moist, wet," also with reference to food qualities, (cf. Sanskrit medas- "fat" (n.), Old Irish mat "pig;" see mast (n.2)).

Narrower sense of "flesh used as food" is first attested c.1300; similar sense evolution in French viande "meat," originally "food." Figurative sense of "essential part" is from 1901. Dark meat, white meat popularized 19c., supposedly as euphemisms for leg and breast, but earliest sources use both terms without apparent embarrassment.

The choicest parts of a turkey are the side bones, the breast, and the thigh bones. The breast and wings are called light meat; the thigh-bones and side-bones dark meat. When a person declines expressing a preference, it is polite to help to both kinds. [Lydia Maria Child, "The American Frugal Housewife," Boston, 1835]

First record of meat loaf is from 1876. Meat market "place where one looks for sex partners" is from 1896 (meat in various sexual senses of "penis, vagina, body regarded as a sex object, prostitute" are attested from 1590s); meat wagon "ambulance" is from 1920, American English slang, said to date from World War I (in a literal sense by 1857). Meat-grinder in the figurative sense attested by 1951. Meat-hook in colloquial transferred sense "arm" attested by 1919.

Idioms and Phrases with meat

meat

In addition to the idioms beginning with meat

meat and drink to one
meat and potatoes

also see:

beat the meat
one's man's meat is another man's poison