elevenses
Syllables: ele·vens·es/ɪˈlɛv(ə)nzɪz/US/əˈlɛvənzəz/
elevenses noun: a short mid-morning break taken around eleven o'clock for a drink or light snack.
Noun
elevenses (usually uncountable, plural elevenses)
- A short mid-morning break taken around eleven o'clock for a drink or light snack.
- The harvestmen who board in the farm-houses fare sumptuously during the month of harvest.— […] at eleven o'clock in the morning, and four in the afternoon, they have each a large light plum-bun, with a pint of ale a piece, carried into the field, to encourage them to work cheerfully. These extra...1837 February, Anna Lee, “The Pinch of Salt”, in The Ladies’ Companion: A Monthly Magazine, Embracing Literature and the Arts, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: Published by William W. Snowdon, →OCLC...
- "In Europe," said Ghosh Babu who read a great deal, "they all stop work at eleven to have tea or coffee or cocoa, or some stronger beverage; they call it elevenses." / […] ["]Ghosh Babu, how long time they get for elevenses?" / "About half-an-hour," replied Ghosh with authority. […] / "We get no...1989, Khushwant Singh, “Man, How the Government of India Run!”, in The Collected Short Stories of Khushwant Singh, New Delhi: Ravi Dayal Publisher, →ISBN, page 96; republished as “Book Extract: They...
- Synonyms:
- elevensies
elevenses meaning in Malay
elevenses in Malay
- short mid-morning break
- minum pukul sebelas pagi
Examples of elevenses in a sentence
- Chief among them is the partaking of elevenses.2010, Simon Majumdar, “Elevenses”, in Eating for Britain: A Journey into the Heart (and Belly) of the Nation, London: John Murray, →ISBN:
- Betjeman, who was a bit of a gricer, wrote: "I know of no greater pleasure for elevenses in London than to sit in this tea place and watch the trains arrive and depart."2021 January 13, Christian Wolmar, “Read all about London's Cathedrals of Steam”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 63:
Synonyms of elevenses
Forms of elevenses
| plural | elevenses |
|---|
Origin of elevenses
From dialectal elevens (“the eleven-o'clock meal”).
Questions about elevenses
- What does elevenses mean?
- Elevenses means a short mid-morning break taken around eleven o'clock for a drink or light snack.
- What is elevenses in Malay?
- Elevenses in Malay is minum pukul sebelas pagi. See Elevenses meaning in Malay.
- How do you use elevenses in a sentence?
- Chief among them is the partaking of elevenses.
- What part of speech is elevenses?
- Elevenses is a noun.
- How do you pronounce elevenses?
- Elevenses is pronounced /ɪˈlɛv(ə)nzɪz/ (UK).
- What is the plural of elevenses?
- The plural of elevenses is elevenses.
Words near elevenses in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: elevenses (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-elevenses.wav.
Cite this entry: “elevenses.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/elevenses. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.