lunch
/lʌnt͡ʃ/
lunch noun: a light meal usually eaten around midday, notably when not as main meal of the day.
Noun
lunch (countable and uncountable, plural lunches)
- A light meal usually eaten around midday, notably when not as main meal of the day.
- We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
- A break in play between the first and second sessions.
- Any small meal, especially one eaten at a social gathering.
- After the funeral there was a lunch for those who didn't go to the cemetery.
- “Oh, you mustn’t dream of going home without your tea,” cried Anne in distress. “I’ll get it right off—I’ll go and put the tea down this very minute.” “I must go home,” repeated Diana, stupidly but determinedly. “Let me get you a lunch anyhow,” implored Anne. “Let me give you a bit of fruit-cake...1908, L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
- A thin piece or hunk (of bread, meat, etc.)
Verb
lunch (third-person singular simple present lunches, present participle lunching, simple past and past participle lunched)
- To eat lunch.
- I like to lunch in Italian restaurants.
- The gentleman had left for London after lunch. Yes, alone; but he had lunched in the hotel with a lady.1909, Frank Sidgwick, Love and battles, page 291
- To treat to lunch.
- We dined him, we lunched him, we were photographed in his company by flashlight.1906, H. G. Wells, The Future in America: A Search After Realities
lunch meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
lunch in Hindi
- meal around midday
- लंच lañc, दोपहर का खाना dophar kā khānā, नहार nahār
lunch in Tamil
- மதிய உணவு
lunch in Marathi
- दुपारचे जेवण, दुपारचे भोजन
lunch in Urdu
- meal around midday
- ظُہْرانَہ m لَنْچ zuhrāna, دوپَہَر کا کھانا dopahar kā khānā
More languagesFewer languages
- lunch in Bengali
- লাঞ্চ lanco, মধ্যাহ্ন বিরতি moddhanno biroti
- lunch in Telugu
- మధ్యాహ్న భోజనం, మధ్యాహ్నం భోజనం
- lunch in Malayalam
- മുത്താഴം muttāḻaṁ, ഊണ് ūṇŭ
- lunch in Kannada
- ಊಟ ūṭa
- lunch in Punjabi
- ਲੰਚ lañc
- lunch in Gujarati
- લંચ lañc
- lunch in Odia
- ମଧ୍ଯ଼ାହ୍ନ ଭୋଜନ, ମଧ୍ଯ଼ାହ୍ନ ଭୋଜି
- lunch in Sanskrit
- मध्याह्नभोजन madhyāhnabhojana
- lunch in Nepali
- दिउँसोको खाना, दिउँसोको भोजन
- lunch in Pashto
- غرمنۍ ǧarmanǝ́y
- lunch in Tagalog
- tanghalian
- lunch in Arabic
- غَدَاء ḡadāʔ
- lunch in Malay
- makan tengahari
- lunch in Indonesian
- makan siang
- lunch in Thai
- อาหารกลางวัน aa-hǎan-glaang-wan, อาหารเที่ยง aa-hǎan-tîiang, ข้าวเที่ยง kâao-tîiang, มื้อเที่ยง mʉ́ʉ-tîiang
- lunch in Vietnamese
- bữa trưa, bữa ăn trưa, ăn trưa
- lunch in Myanmar
- နေ့လယ်စာ ne.laica
- Sindhi
- مانجھاندو manjhando
Examples of lunch in a sentence
- “Let me get you a lunch anyhow,” implored Anne.1908, L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables:
- Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today.1934, Cole Porter, Miss Otis Regrets:
Synonyms of lunch
Forms of lunch
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | lunches |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | lunches |
| present participle | lunching |
| past participle | lunched |
| past | lunched |
Origin of lunch
Recorded since 1580 in the sense “piece, hunk”. The word luncheon with the same meaning is presumably an extension on the pattern of puncheon (“cask”) and truncheon (“cudgel”). But earliest found forms of luncheon include lunshin and lunching, which are equivalent to lunch + -ing, with the suffix -ing possibly later modified to imitate a French origin. In contrast, the more common sense “light meal” is first attested for luncheon in 1652 and for lunch in 1829, so in this sense the latter is probably a shortening of the former. Lunch is possibly a derivative of lump (as hunch is from hump. See hunch for more), or represents an alteration of nuncheon, from Middle English nonechenche (“light midday meal”) (see nuncheon) and altered by northern English dialect lunch (“hunk of bread or cheese”) (1590), which perhaps is from lump or from Spanish lonja (“a slice”, literally “loin”).
Words formed from lunch
- bag lunch
- blunch
- box lunch
- brunch
- business lunch
- businessman's lunch
- cut lunch
- dairy lunch
- do lunch
- dry lunch
- dunch
- Dutch lunch
- eat someone's lunch
- free lunch
- funch
- launch lunch
- launch one's lunch
- linner
- liquid lunch
- little lunch
- lose one's lunch
- Lunchable
- lunch-and-learn
- lunch box
- lunch break
- lunchbreak
- lunch bucket
- lunch counter
- lunchee
- luncheteria
- lunchette
- lunch hook
- lunch hour
- lunch kettle
- lunch lady
- lunchless
- lunchline
- lunchmaking
- lunchmate
- lunch meat
- lunch money
- lunch pail
- lunch pail Democrat
- lunch shaming
- lunchtime
- lunch-time
- lunch trailer
- lunch truck
- lunchwards
- lunchware
- lunner
- lupper
- no free lunch
- no free lunch theorem
- out to lunch
- pack a lunch
- packed lunch
- pack lunch
- plate lunch
- playlunch
Phrases with lunch
- lunch in
- did lunch
- lunch out
- does lunch
- done lunch
- sack lunch
- doing lunch
- lunch boxes
- lunch hooks
- lunch hours
- lunch meats
- lunch pails
31 more phrasesFewer phrases
- power lunch
- split lunch
- lunch breaks
- lunch ladies
- lunch trucks
- lunch buckets
- lunch kettles
- packs a lunch
- working lunch
- launched lunch
- launches lunch
- lunch counters
- lunch trailers
- packed a lunch
- launching lunch
- packing a lunch
- plowman's lunch
- ladies who lunch
- walk after lunch
- ploughman's lunch
- ate someone's lunch
- three-martini lunch
- eats someone's lunch
- lunch pail Democrats
- eaten someone's lunch
- eating someone's lunch
- there is no free lunch
- breakfast, lunch and dinner
- there's no such thing as a free lunch
- there is no such thing as a free lunch
- there ain't no such thing as a free lunch
Words that rhyme with lunch
Questions about lunch
- What does lunch mean?
- Lunch means a light meal usually eaten around midday, notably when not as main meal of the day.
- What is lunch in Hindi?
- Lunch in Hindi is लंच (lañc), दोपहर का खाना (dophar kā khānā), नहार (nahār). See Lunch meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use lunch in a sentence?
- “Let me get you a lunch anyhow,” implored Anne.
- What part of speech is lunch?
- Lunch can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce lunch?
- Lunch is pronounced /lʌnt͡ʃ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lunch?
- The plural of lunch is lunches.
Words near lunch in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lunch (page history and authors); lunch (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lunch (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lunch (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ഊണ് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಊಟ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ਲੰਚ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); લંચ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); lunch (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lunch (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: En-uk-lunch.ogg, En-us-lunch.ogg, en-au-lunch.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lunch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lunch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.