victual
Americannoun
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victuals, food supplies; provisions.
-
food or provisions for human beings.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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to take or obtain victuals.
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Archaic. to eat or feed.
verb
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to supply with or obtain victuals
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rare (intr) (esp of animals) to partake of victuals
Other Word Forms
- revictual verb
- unvictualed adjective
- unvictualled adjective
- victual-less adjective
- victualless adjective
Etymology
Origin of victual
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English vitaille, from Anglo-French, Middle French vitail(l)e, Old French vituaille, from Late Latin victuālia “provisions,” noun use of neuter plural of Latin victuālis “pertaining to food,” equivalent to victu(s) “nourishment, way of living” ( vic-, variant stem of vīvere “to live” + -tus suffix of verb action) + -ālis -al 1; modern spelling from Latin
Explanation
A victual is anything that can be eaten. Victuals are food. Victual is a fancy word for a very simple thing: any substance that can be used as food. Everything in the food pyramid is a victual, and whatever you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks are victuals. Words that apply to victuals are eatable and edible. A toddler eating a cigarette butt doesn't quite understand what's a victual and what's not.
Vocabulary lists containing victual
Much Ado About Nothing
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The Secret Garden
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Quartering Act (1765)
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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.
Scholars long thought that the capability to construct and victual a watercraft and then navigate it to a distant coast arrived only with advent of agriculture and animal domestication.
From Science Magazine • Apr. 24, 2018
Preachments against war have come to savor strongly of zwieback, a victual which most people can take or leave at will.
From Time Magazine Archive
In 1592, Hideyoshi, founder of the navy, used his ships to land troops in Korea, to victual their beachheads.
From Time Magazine Archive
Finally the ship had so much victual booty that an extra meal was served: afternoon coffee with bonbons.
From Time Magazine Archive
How could they victual their troops; or how could they establish any safe line of transport across deserts traversed by flying hordes of warlike plunderers?
From Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c. by Hell, Xavier Hommaire de
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.
