lunch

[luhnch]

noun

1. a light midday meal between breakfast and dinner; luncheon.

2. any light meal or snack.

3. a restaurant or lunchroom.

   Let's eat at the dairy lunch.

verb (used without object)

1. to eat lunch.

   We lunched quite late today.

verb (used with object)

1. to provide lunch for.

   They lunched us in regal fashion.

lunch

/ lʌntʃ /

noun

1. a meal eaten during the middle of the day

2. (among older people) mid-afternoon tea

verb

1. (intr) to eat lunch

2. (tr) to provide or buy lunch for

Other Word Forms

• luncher noun
• lunchless adjective
• prelunch adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lunch¹

First recorded in 1585–95; short for luncheon

Word History and Origins

Origin of lunch¹

C16: probably short form of _luncheon

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. out to lunch, not paying attention or tending to business; negligent.

   You must have been out to lunch when you wrote that weird report.

see eat someone alive (someone's lunch); free lunch; lose one's lunch; out to (lunch).

Example Sentences

It wasn’t the greeting I was expecting from my dad when I stopped by for lunch Wednesday at his Anaheim home.

From Los Angeles Times

Schedule recurring tasks so they happen automatically - for example, block out lunch in your diary each day or set weekly reminders for bills and chores.

From BBC

School meals also add to the pressure, she said, and her eldest child's lunches cost £44 a month.

From BBC

Videos of the nuns have been posted on Instagram, at prayer, at Mass, at lunch and climbing down the steep staircase.

From BBC

Office workers out to lunch got an impromptu lesson on its parts.

From Los Angeles Times