Meal Definition

mēl

meals

noun

meals

Any edible grain, or the edible part of any grain, coarsely ground and unbolted.

Cornmeal.

Webster's New World

Any of the times, esp. the customary times, for eating, as breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Webster's New World

The food served or eaten at such a time.

Webster's New World

Any substance similarly ground or powdered.

Webster's New World

(UK dialectal) A speck or spot.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

Antonyms:
snack

affix

By a (specified) amount done or used at one time.

Webster's New World

other

Other Word Forms of Meal

Noun

Singular:

meal

Plural:

meals

Origin of Meal

From Middle English mele, from Old English melu (“meal, flour"), from Proto-Germanic *melwÄ… (“meal, flour"), from Proto-Indo-European *mel-, *mol(w)É™- (“to grind, mill"). Cognate with West Frisian moal, Dutch meel, German Mehl, Albanian miell, Proto-Slavic *melvo (“grain to be ground") (Bulgarian мливо (mlivo)), Dutch malen (“to grind"), German mahlen (“to grind"), Old Irish melim (“I grind"), Latin molō (“I grind"), Tocharian A/B malywÃ«t (“you press")/melye (“they tread on"), Lithuanian málti, Old Church Slavonic млѣти (mlÄ›ti), Ancient Greek μύλη (mýlÄ“, “mill"). More at mill.

From Wiktionary
From Middle English, from Old English mÇ£l (“measure, time, occasion, set time, time for eating, meal"), from Proto-Germanic *mÄ“lÄ…, from Proto-Indo-European *mÄ“-, *me- (“to measure"). Cognate with West Frisian miel, Dutch maal (“meal, time, occurrence"), German Mal (“time"), Mahl (“meal"), Swedish mÃ¥l (“meal"); and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure"), Latin mensus, Russian мера (mera, “measure"), Lithuanian mẽtas. Related to Old English mǣþ (“measure, degree, proportion").

From Wiktionary
Variation of mole (compare Scots mail), from Middle English mole, mool, from Old English māl, mÇ£l (“spot, mark, blemish"), from Proto-Germanic *mailÄ… (“wrinkle, spot"), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to soil"). More at mole.

From Wiktionary
ME -mele < OE -mælum < mæl, measure, time (see meal) + adv. dat. -um

From Webster's New World College Dictionary, 5th Edition
Middle English mele from Old English mǣl mē-² in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Middle English mele from Old English melu melə- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition