meal1

 
Pronunciation: /miːl/

noun

  • any of the regular occasions in a day when a reasonably large amount of food is eaten: the evening meal
  • the food eaten during a meal: a bar serving light meals

Phrases

make a meal of

British informal carry out (a task or action) with unnecessary effort or thoroughness, especially for effect: he made a meal of it by falling dramatically to the ground clutching his face

meals on wheels

meals delivered to old people or invalids who cannot cook for themselves.

Origin:

Old English mǣl (also in the sense 'measure', surviving in words such as piecemeal 'measure taken at one time'), of Germanic origin. The early sense of meal involved a notion of ‘fixed time’; compare with Dutch maal 'meal, (portion of) time' and German Mal 'time', Mahl 'meal', from an Indo-European root meaning 'to measure'