meal Definition

meal¹
noun

1. An occasion on which food is eaten, eg lunch, supper, dinner, etc.
2. An amount of food eaten on one such occasion.

Thesaurus: fare, refreshment, snack, nosh (slang).

Idiom: make a meal of something

colloq
To exaggerate the importance of it, or make it seem more complicated than it really is, eg by taking an unnecessary amount of time or trouble over it.

To eat it as a meal.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon mæl, meaning ‘a measure' or ‘a portion of time'.

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meal²
noun

1. The edible parts of any grain, usually excluding wheat, ground to a coarse powder.

Example: oatmeal
Thesaurus: grain, flour, farina, bran, feed, fodder, forage.
2. Any other food substance in ground form.

Example: bone meal

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon melo.