soup kitchen
Americannoun
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a place where food, usually soup, is served at little or no charge to people experiencing food insecurity.
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Military Slang. (in World War I) a mobile kitchen.
noun
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a place or mobile stall where food and drink, esp soup, is served to destitute people
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military a mobile kitchen
Etymology
Origin of soup kitchen
First recorded in 1850–55
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.
Father Leonardo Torres is one of the driving forces behind the soup kitchen.
From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026
Daytime activities included volunteering at a soup kitchen, handing out food to families in Parque Maceo and dropping off N95 masks and meds at the towering Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
Apparently not when he’s working a soup kitchen, according to these legal aces.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
Back in el-Fasher we hear appeals for help from the women clustered at the soup kitchen - any kind of help.
From BBC • Aug. 13, 2025
“Mrs. Dowdel,” he said, pulling a long face, ‘ they’s things I can overlook. But it seems to me you’re runnin’ a soup kitchen without a license from the Board of Health.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
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.
