dinners

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of dinner.

   The charity organized a series of fundraising dinners across the city.

   Family dinners grew quieter once the children moved away.

   Note

   A regular -s plural that counts meals as separate occasions: family dinners, fundraising dinners, two dinners a week. It covers every meal sense, whether evening, midday, an animal's feed or a formal banquet. It does not cover the food itself, which stays uncountable: you ate too much dinner, not too many dinners. The same spelling also serves as the verb form meaning "dines".

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of dinner.

   Note

   Two constructions stand behind this verb form. Used intransitively, it means eating the meal (she dinners at the officers' mess). Used transitively, it means giving someone a meal (the college dinners its visiting speakers). Both overlap with dine, which can usually stand in its place. The -s form agrees only with he, she, it or a singular noun; other subjects take plain dinner.

   The college dinners its visiting speakers in the great hall.

   Each spring the society dinners its new members before the first lecture.

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