dining hall

American  

noun

• dining halls
  plural

1. a large room in which meals are served to members of a special group and their guests, as to the students and faculty of a college.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dining halls
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of dining hall

First recorded in 1660–70

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Explanation

A dining-hall is a large space where many people eat at the same time. If you go to college and live in a dormitory, you'll probably eat most of your meals in a dining-hall. You can use the word dining-hall when you're talking about a cafeteria or another group space for eating. You'll find dining-halls at universities, camps. and boarding schools. The word hall. a long room, comes from the Old English root heall, "spacious roofed residence," and dining is rooted in the Old French disner, "to have a meal."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dining hall

The original photo shows three students smiling in a dining hall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

At lunchtime, the prisoners in navy overalls file into the dining hall with heads bowed and hands clasped behind their backs.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

There will be no central dining hall, but there will be a commissary for staff, which will serve more than 2,000 workers by the time all four towers, built in phases, are complete.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Less than 300 feet southeast, the main dining hall and a barracks that can house roughly 450 personnel sustained damage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

She didn't really want to walk into the dining hall alone and didn't have time to send Jason a starpost to meet her.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

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