Dinner

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Dinner usually refers to the most significant meal of the day, which can be the noon or the evening meal. However, the term "dinner" can have many different meanings depending on the culture; it may mean a meal of any size eaten at any time of day.[1][2] Historically, it referred to the first meal of the day, eaten around noon, and is still occasionally used for a noontime meal if it is a large or main meal. However, the meaning as the evening meal, generally the largest of the day, is becoming standard in the English-speaking world.
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1 History and etymology 2 Which meal is it? 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

History and etymology[edit]

Originally, dinner referred to the first meal of a two-meal day, a heavy meal occurring about noon, which broke the night's fast in the new day. The word is from the Old French (ca 1300) disner, meaning "breakfast", from the stem of Gallo-Romance desjunare ("to break one's fast"), from Latin dis- ("undo") + Late Latin ieiunare ("to fast"), from Latin ieiunus ("fasting, hungry").[3][4] The Romanian word "dejun" and the French "djeuner" retain this etymology and to some extent the meaning (whereas the Spanish word "desayuno" and Portuguese"desjejum" are related but are exclusively used for breakfast). Eventually, the term shifted to referring to the heavy main meal of the day, even if it had been preceded by a breakfast meal (or even both breakfast and lunch). In Europe, the fashionable hour for dinner began to be incrementally postponed during the 18th century, to two and three in the afternoon, until at the time of the First French Empire an English traveler to Paris remarked upon the "abominable habit of dining as late as seven in the evening".[5] Perhaps under the influence of this new European tradition, the main meal for the day in the English-speaking world gradually changed into being the evening meal. Because of this shift, the word "dinner" acquired a meaning as the end-of-day meal along with meaning the main meal, and now many speakers will in fact refer to the evening meal as "dinner" even if it has been preceded by larger meals, thus divorcing the word almost entirely from its original meaning.

Which meal is it?[edit]

In most modern usages, the term dinner now refers to the evening meal, which is now often the most significant meal of the day in English-speaking cultures. When using this meaning, the preceding meals are usually referred to as breakfast and lunch. In some areas, the tradition of using dinner to mean the most important meal of the day regardless of time of day leads to a variable name for meals depending on the combination of their size and the time of day, while in others meal names are fixed based on the time they are consumed. For example, one speaker in the United Kingdom might decide to eat his largest meal for the day at noon, yet still call it "dinner", and eat a small salad in the evening and consider it his "supper" (or tea); if he ate a small meal at noon, however, he might call that meal "lunch" and a large evening meal "dinner". Another in the United States following that first eating schedule would likely call the noontime meal "lunch" and the following meal "dinner", regardless of their relative size. Confusing the matter further, in parts of the rural American South and northern England, the word "dinner" traditionally has been used for the midday meal even if it was a light snack

taken to school or work (and not for supper). The (lighter) meal following dinner has traditionally been referred to as "supper" or tea, though middle- and northern- English people still often refer to a large evening meal as tea, with "dinner" being reserved for the noontime meal. The divide between different meanings of "dinner" is not cut-and-dried based on either geography or socioeconomic class; there are speakers of British English and North American English following either pattern. Even in systems in which dinner is the meal usually eaten at the end of the day, an individual dinner may still refer to a main or more sophisticated meal at any time in the day, such as a banquet, feast, or a special meal eaten on a Sunday or holiday, such as Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving dinner. At such a dinner the people who dine together may be formally dressed and consume food with an array of utensils. These dinners are often divided into three or more courses. Appetizers consisting of options such as soup, salad etc., are followed by the main course then the dessert.

See also[edit]
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References[edit]
1. 2. Jump up^ "When do we eat? A survey of meal times" Jump up^ (October/November 2001.) "What time is dinner?" History Magazine. Accessed September 2011. 3. 4. 5. Jump up^ etymology of "dinner" from Online Dictionary. Accessed November 11, 2009. Jump up^ Etymology of "dine" from Online Dictionary. Accessed November 11, 2009. Jump up^ Quote in Ian Kelly, Cooking for Kings: the life of Antonin Carme the first celebrity chef , 2003:78. For guests of Talleyrand at the Chteau de Valenay, dinner under Carme was even later.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dinner.

Look up dinner in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

"Dinner" definition from Cambridge.org Wikibooks Cookbook

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n. 1. a. The chief meal of the day, eaten in the evening or at midday. b. A banquet or formal meal in honor of a person or event. c. The food prepared for either of these meals. 2. A full-course meal served at a fixed price; table d'hte. [Middle English diner, morning meal, from Old French disner, diner, to dine, morning meal; see dine.] Word History: Eating foods such as pizza and ice cream for breakfast may be justified etymologically. In Middle English dinner meant "breakfast," as did the Old French word disner, or diner, which was the source of our word. The Old French word came from the Vulgar Latin word *disinre, meaning "to break one's fast; that is, to eat one's first meal," a notion also contained in our word breakfast. The Vulgar Latin word was derived from an earlier word,*disiinre, the Latin elements of which are dis-, denoting reversal, and iinium, "fast." Middle English diner not only meant "breakfast" but, echoing usage of the Old French word diner, more commonly meant "the first big meal of the day, usually eaten between 9 A.M. and noon." Customs change, however, and over the years we have let the chief meal become the last meal of the day, by which time we have broken our fast more than once.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published byHoughton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Usage samples from TheFreeLibrary.com It is noon; and Dough-Boy, the steward, thrusting his pale loaf-of-bread face from the cabin-scuttle, announces dinner to his lord and master; who, sitting in the lee quarter-boat, has just been taking an observation of the sun; and is now mutely reckoning the latitude on the smooth, medallion-shaped tablet, reserved for that daily purpose on the upper part of his ivory leg. Moby Dick I-LXVII by Melville, HermanView in context So a day was appointed when the Fox should visit the Stork; but when they were seated at table all that was for their dinner was contained in a very long-necked jar with a narrow mouth, in which the Fox could not insert his snout, so all he could manage to do was to lick the outside of the jar. Fables by Aesop View in context "It is the first dinner we give, on our return from our

dinner (dn)
n

1. (Cookery) a meal taken in the evening

wedding tour" (the lady wrote); "and you will only be introduced to a few of my husband's old friends. The Two Destinies by Collins, Wilkie View in context More results

2. (Cookery) a meal taken at midday, esp when it is the main meal of the day; lunch

3. (Cookery)

a. a formal evening meal, as of a club, society, etc

b. a public banquet in honour of someone or something

4. (Cookery) a complete meal at a fixed price in a restaurant; table d'hte

5. (Cookery) (modifier) of, relating to, or used at dinner: dinner plate; dinner table; dinner hour.

6. do like a dinner (usually passive) Austral to do for, overpower, or outdo

[C13: from Old French disner; see dine]

Collins English Dictionary Complete and Unabridged HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

dinner (dn r)
n.

1. the main meal of the day, eaten in the evening or at midday.

2. a formal meal in honor of some person or occasion.

3. table d'hte.

[12501300; Middle English diner < Old French disner (n. use of v.); see dine] dinnerless, adj.

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

dinner, supper - Dinner is the main meal

of the day; supper is the last meal of the day and lighter than dinner.

See also related terms for lighter.

Farlex Trivia Dictionary. 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thesaurus Legend:
lated Words Antonyms

Synonyms Re

Noun 1. dinner the main meal of the day served in the evening or at midday; "dinner will be at 8"; "on Sundays they had a large dinner when they returned from church" meal, repast - the food served and eaten at one time high tea - substantial early evening meal including tea 2. dinner - a party of people assembled to have dinner together; "guests should never be late to a dinner party" dinner party

party - a group of people gathered together for pleasure; "she joined the party after dinner" banquet, feast - a ceremonial dinner party for many people beanfeast - an annual dinner party given by an employer for the employees
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. 20032012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

dinner
noun

1. meal, evening meal, main meal, spread (informal), repast, blowout (sl ang), collation, noshup (informal), refectionWould you like to stay and have dinner?

2. banquet, feast, blowout (slang), repast, beanfeast (Brit. informal), carousal The annual dinner was held in the spring.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

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-----------------------

dinner (din) noun

1. the main meal of the day eaten usually in the evening. Is it time for dinner yet? 2. a formal party in the evening, when such a meal is eaten. They asked me to dinner; He was the guest of honour at the dinner; (also adjective) a dinner party. dinner-jacket noun a man's formal jacket for wear in the evening.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary 20062013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

dinner
Multilingual Translator HarperCollins Publishers 2009

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It is noon; and Dough-Boy, the steward, thrusting his pale loaf-of-bread face from the cabin-scuttle, announces dinner to his lord and master; who, sitting in the lee quarterboat, has just been taking an observation of the sun; and is now mutely reckoning the latitude on the smooth, medallion-shaped tablet, reserved for that daily purpose on the upper part of his ivory leg. Moby Dick I-LXVII by Melville, Herman View in context So a day was appointed when the Fox should visit the Stork; but when they were seated at table all that was for their dinner was contained in a very long-necked jar with a narrow mouth, in which the Fox could not insert his snout, so all he could manage to do was to lick the outside of the jar. Fables by Aesop View in context "It is the first dinner we give, on our return from our wedding tour" (the lady wrote); "and you will only be introduced to a few of my husband's old friends. The Two Destinies by Collins, Wilkie View in context More results

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