Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

meat

Pronunciation: /miːt/
Translate meat | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of meat

noun

[mass noun]
  • 1the flesh of an animal, typically a mammal or bird, as food (the flesh of domestic fowls is sometimes distinguished as poultry):pieces of meat place meat and poultry in the refrigerator immediately [as modifier]:meat pies [count noun]:cold meats
  • the flesh of a person’s body:this’ll put meat on your bones!
  • North American the edible part of fruits, nuts, or eggs.
  • (the meat of) the chief part of something:he did the meat of the climb on the first day
  • 2 archaic food of any kind.
  • a meal: we have talked at meat with this stranger

Phrases

be meat and drink to

British
  • 1be a source of great pleasure to:meat and drink to me, this life is!
  • 2be a customary matter for: the commercial market-research business that is meat and drink to most pollsters

easy meat

informal a person who is easily overcome or outwitted: with no family money to protect him, he was easy meat

meat and potatoes

North American basic and essential aspects:the club’s meat and potatoes remains blues performers

meat and two veg

British informal a man’s genitals.

one man's meat is another man's poison

proverb things liked or enjoyed by one person may be distasteful to another.

Derivatives

meatless

adjective

Origin:

Old English mete 'food' or 'article of food' (as in sweetmeat), of Germanic origin

meat in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of meat in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite
Oxford Dictionaries Pro

For Oxford's best resources for writers, plus thesaurus, audio, and 1.9m examples.

GET PRO ►

Shop for an Oxford dictionary
Find the perfect Oxford dictionary for you in our online shop.
SHOP NOW ►

Word of the day

cur

/ kəː /
noun
an aggressive or unkempt dog …