• IPA: /miːl/
• (America) IPA: [miːʟ̩]

meal (plural meals)

1. Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity (as opposed to a snack).

   Breakfast is the morning meal, lunch is the noon meal, and dinner, or supper, is the evening meal.

   • c1450, Secreta Secretorumː

     He that will cast meal upon meal is not able to have (a) long life.

   • c1500, The King and the Hermitː

     I have been there and taken deal / And have had many (a) merry meal.

   • 1535?, Dyfference Astron ↗ː

     But above all things beware that thou eat not till thou feel thy stomach empty and that it hath made good digestion of the first meal.

   • 1569, Fenton, Wonders ↗ː

     Besides he was so fantastical and unruly in his appetites, that he used no common meats at his meals, but was fed with the combs of cocks, the tongues of peahens.

   • 1606, Bodley ↗ː

     Sir, I was thrice at Lamhith, to have dined with the Archeb since your departure, and still he was to dine, at the Court or with some Bishop. But I must and will find him as soon as I may: and rather at a meal, then otherwise, because I would have means, to participate at large, about our Collation.

   • 1606, William Shakespeare, Macbeth ↗ː

     Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly.

   • 1640, Richard Brathwait, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A16650.0001.001/1:7?rgn=div1;view=fulltext Ar't asleep Husband? A BOULSTER LECTURE, Stored with all variety of witty Jests, merry Tales, and other pleasant passages; extracted from the choycest Flowers of Phi∣losophy, Poesy, ancient and moderne History]ː

     Give me but so many meals, and thou shalt find me one of the strongest Turkish males that ever English gennet bore.

   • 1796, Robert Bage, Hermsprong: or, Man As He Is Not ↗ː

     This letter was written whilst my hostess of the George was preparing the last meal I ever was to eat.

   • 1835, Edgar Allan Poe, The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall ↗ː

     Puss, who seemed in a great measure recovered from her illness, now made a hearty meal of the dead bird, and then went to sleep with much apparent satisfaction.

   • 1837-1839, Charles Dickens, The Adventures of Oliver Twist ↗ː

     Indeed, the worthy gentleman, stimulated perhaps by the immediate prospect of being in active service, was in great spirits and good humor; in proof whereof, it may be here remarked, that he humorously drank all the beer at a draught; and did not utter, on a rough calculation, more than fourscore oaths during the whole progress of the meal.

   • 1982, Steven King, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger ↗ː

     After the meal, he rinsed the cans from which they had eaten (marveling again at his own water extravagance), and when he turned around, Jake was asleep again.

   • 2016, Melissa Clark, Consider This Permission to Eat Burrata for Dinner ↗ in The New York Timesː

     In this recipe, I go even further, adding a robust salad to turn a lone cheese into a satisfying summer meal.

2. Food served or eaten as a repast.
   • a1450, The Macro Playsː

     If thou wilt fare well at meat and meal, come and follow me.

   • 1855, Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass ↗ː

     This is the meal pleasantly set ... . this is the meat and drink for natural hunger. It is for the wicked just the same as the righteous.

3. (obsolete) A time or an occasion.
   • a1425?, The Chester Plays ↗

     You would weep at every meal, but for my son weep ye never a deal.

   • a1400?-a1470? The Governance of England ↗,

     […] by occasion whereof they will, then at every meal, grouch with the king.

   • a1450, Henry Lovelich, The History of the Holy Grailː

     Which was to them a sorry meal.

   • a1450, Henry Lovelich, Merlinː

     Also soon as the dragons together feal, betwixt them shall begin a sorry meal.

   • a1450, The York Playsː

     What mean ye.. to make mourning at ilk a meal?

   • 1481, William Caxton, Reynard the Fox ↗ː

     I shall do late you have so much that ten of you should not eat it at one meal.

   • a1500, Alexander-Cassamus Fragmentː

     Of all the day throughout, keep I no better meal than on her to think.

   • c1500, In A Chyrchː

     Thou couth well weep at every meal.

• French: repas
• German: Mahlzeit, Essen
• Italian: pasto
• Portuguese: refeição
• Russian: еда́
• Spanish: comida

meal

1. The coarse-ground edible part of various grains often used to feed animals; flour or a coarser blend than flour.

• French: mouture
• German: Mehl
• Italian: mangìme
• Portuguese: farinha
• Russian: мука́
• Spanish: harina

meal (meals, present participle mealing; past and past participle mealed)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To yield or be plentiful in meal.
   • 1876, Notes and Queries (page 73)

     Of course the yield of grain was small, but much greater than could have been expected; and, the ears being well filled, it mealed well. The pastures were burnt up, so that there was nothing left for the cattle to eat.

meal (plural meals)

1. (UK dialectal) A speck or spot.
2. A part; a fragment; a portion.

meal (meals, present participle mealing; past and past participle mealed)

1. (transitive) To defile or taint.
   • c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “Measvre for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     Were he meal'd with that / Which he corrects, than were he tyrannous.