dinner
Pluraldinners
Pluraldinners
- 1The main meal of the day, usually eaten in the evening.
They invited their neighbors over for dinner on Friday.
Dinner was served promptly at eight in the dining hall.
UsageUsually no article for the everyday meal: have dinner, for dinner, at dinner; but with an adjective, a lovely dinner.
Similarsupper
- 2A formal meal held for many people to mark a special occasion.
The awards dinner began with speeches from the founders.
A formal dinner was held at the embassy for the visiting delegation.
UsageTakes a: give a dinner, hold a dinner, an awards dinner.
Note
The American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897) has a host who "gave a dinner" with a cover laid for a favored guest. F. E. Penny's Pulling the Strings has dinner announced by a servant in a gold-and-white turban.
- 3
Less common meanings
- 4A meal eaten at midday, used where the evening meal is called supper or tea.
In the village, dinner is served at one o'clock sharp.
Workers broke for dinner at midday before returning to the mill.
Note
The name has drifted later through the day for centuries. Latin dis- plus iēiūnō, "to fast," made a verb meaning "to break the fast," which gave Old French disner, first breakfast, then lunch, and this usage holds it at noon. In Walter Besant's The Ivory Gate (1892), Mr. Checkley's dinner, carried in a paper parcel, leaves luncheon crumbs, so the two words name one meal.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Dinner has gradually shifted to a later time of day over several centuries. en.wikipedia.org
- Walter Besant wrote The Ivory Gate. gutenberg.org
- The novel describes Checkley's dinner in a paper parcel among the sources of luncheon crumbs. gutenberg.org
- 5
- 6To eat dinner; to have one's main or evening meal.
Once I was geared up, I joined him on the wide, flat seat of the sled which was loaded up with hot food for the jacks who were dinnering out since they worked a forty far from the camp.
2014, Caroline Akervik, White Pine - 7To provide someone with a dinner; to host them for a meal.
Showing meanings only.
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Origin
Latin dis- plus iēiūnō ("to fast"), together meaning "to break the fast", passed through Vulgar Latin to Old French disner, which first meant "breakfast" and later "lunch" (modern French dîner). Middle English took it as dyner.