square meal

American  

noun

1. a nourishing or filling meal.

   You'll feel better after you've had a square meal.

---

square meal British  

noun

1. a substantial meal consisting of enough food to satisfy

---

Etymology

Origin of square meal

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Three or four children cram behind each desk at a local school, which aims to feed each pupil a bowl of rice and beans so they can have at least one square meal per day.

From Reuters • Dec. 13, 2021

Is it for the promise of a square meal that she takes so drastic a step, when she’s just found a guy she likes?

From Washington Post • Oct. 15, 2021

Maybe for lunch today I’ll make a square meal of my own.

From The Verge • Aug. 26, 2021

Harriet herself describes the perfect gingerbread as “a square meal and a good night’s sleep and a long, blood‐spattered howl at the moon rolled into one.”

From Slate • Mar. 6, 2019

They’d planned the same stunt, signed on for a square meal and a month’s pay.

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham