meat
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See also: méat
English
Etymology
From Middle English mete, from Old English mete (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic *mati, from Proto-Germanic *matiz (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to drip, ooze; grease, fat”). Cognate with West Frisian mete, Old Saxon meti, Old High German maz (“food”), Icelandic matur, Swedish mat, Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍄𐍃 (mats).
A -ja- derivation from the same base is found in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German met (“lean pork”), from which Dutch met (“minced pork”) and German Mett (“minced meat”) derive, respectively. Compare also Old Irish mess (“animal feed”) and Welsh mes (“acorns”), English mast (“fodder for swine and other animals”), which are probably from the same root.
Pronunciation
- enPR: mēt, IPA(key): /miːt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /mit/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (UK): (file) Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -iːt
- Homophones: meet, mete
Noun
meat (countable and uncountable, plural meats)
- (uncountable) The flesh (muscle tissue) of an animal used as food.
- A large portion of domestic meat production comes from animals raised on factory farms.
- The homesteading teenager shot a deer to supply his family with wild meat for the winter.
- 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 144:
- In many parts of the world, shark meat is an acceptable and desirable form of protein.
- 2010 October 19, Andy Atkins, “Debate on meat-eating does not cut the mustard”, in The Guardian:
- While people who eat no meat at all are identified and identifiable as vegetarians, there is no commonly accepted term for people who eat it only a couple of times a week and are selective about its quality.
- (countable) A type of meat, by anatomic position and provenance.
- The butchery's profit rate on various meats varies greatly.
- (now archaic, dialectal) Food, for animals or humans, especially solid food. See also meat and drink.
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew:
- I was anhongred, and ye gave me meate. I thursted, and ye gave me drinke.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC, page 232:
- And he was pleased to accompany them in their death; for, he pined away by abstaining from all manner of meat.
- c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- Your greatest want is, you want much of meat: / Why should you want? Behold, the Earth hath Rootes […].
- 1879, Silas Hocking, Her Benny:
- As full of fun and frolic as an egg is full of meat.
- 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 13:
- The way she said ‘dinner’ and the way she said ‘champagne’ gave meat and liquid their exact difference […].
- (now rare) A type of food, a dish.
- (archaic) A meal.
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew viij:
- And hit cam to passe, thatt Jesus satt at meate in his housse.
- (obsolete) Meal; flour.
- (uncountable) Any relatively thick, solid part of a fruit, nut etc.
- The apple looked fine on the outside, but the meat was not very firm.
- 1954, Cothburn O'Neal, The Dark Lady, page 12:
- She took her spoon and stirred the melted butter into the yellow meat of the yam.
- (slang, vulgar) A penis.
- 1993, Nancy Friday, Women on top: how real life has changed women's sexual fantasies, page 538:
- He sits me on the floor (the shower is still beating down on us). He lays me down and slides his huge meat into me.
- 2006, John Patrick, Play Hard, Score Big, page 54:
- Just the tight, hot caress of his bowels surrounding my meat gave me pleasures I had only dreamed of before that day.
- 2011, Wade Wright, Two Straight Guys, page 41:
- Both men were completely, and very actively into this face fucking! Suddenly Bill pulled off of Jim's meat and said,
- (colloquial) The best or most substantial part of something.
- We recruited him right from the meat of our competitor.
- 1577, Gerald Eades Bentley, The Arte of Angling:
- […] it is time to begin "A Dialogue between Viator and Piscator," which is the meat of the matter.
- (sports) The sweet spot of a bat or club (in cricket, golf, baseball etc.).
- He hit it right on the meat of the bat.
- (slang) A meathead.
- Throw it in here, meat.
- (Australian Aboriginal) A totem, or (by metonymy) a clan or clansman which uses it.
- 1949, Vol.XX, Oceania:
- When a stranger comes to an aboriginal camp or settlement in north-western NSW, he is asked by one of the older aborigines: "What meat (clan) are you?"
- 1973, M. Fennel, A. Grey, Nucoorilma:
- Granny Sullivan was ‘dead against’ the match at first because they did not know "what my meat was and because I was a bit on the fair side."
- 1977, A. K. Eckermann, Group Organisation and Identity:
- Some people maintained that she was "sung" because her family had killed or eaten the "meat" (totem) of another group.
- 1992, P. Taylor, Tell it Like it Is:
- Our family […] usually married the red kangaroo "meat".
- 1993, J. Janson, Gunjies
- That’s a beautiful goanna. . He’s my meat, can’t eat him.
Usage notes
- The sense "flesh of an animal used as food" is often understood to exclude fish and other seafood. The exclusion of poultry from the category of meat has become outdated.
Synonyms
- (animal flesh used as food): flesh; See also Thesaurus:meat
- (penis): see Thesaurus:penis
- (best or most substantial part of something): crux, gist; See also Thesaurus:gist
Antonyms
Derived terms
- antimeat
- Australian as a meat pie
- bakemeat
- batmeat
- bear meat
- beat one's meat
- beat the meat
- bush meat
- bushmeat
- camel meat
- cat meat
- catmeat
- cat's meat
- chew the meat and spit out the bones
- clean meat
- cockmeat
- coconut meat
- cold meat
- cold meat box
- cold meat cart
- cold meat train
- commodity meat
- cow meat
- crabmeat
- crab meat
- cuckoo's meat
- cultured meat
- dark meat
- dead meat
- deer meat
- deli meat
- dog meat
- don't get your meat where you get your bread
- double-dead meat
- duckmeat
- ducksmeat
- duck's-meat
- easy meat
- fleshmeat
- forcemeat
- fragrant meat
- fresh meat
- fuck-meat
- fuckmeat
- girlmeat
- goatmeat
- ground meat
- horsemeat
- I don't eat meat
- inmeat
- kangaroo meat
- light meat
- loose-meat sandwich
- luncheon meat
- lunch meat
- mad as a meat axe
- make meat
- mammalian meat allergy
- man-meat
- meat and potatoes
- meat-and-potatoes
- meat and three
- meat and two veg
- meat ant
- meatarian
- meatatarian
- meat ax
- meat axe
- meatbag
- meatball
- meat bee
- meat biscuit
- meatbot
- meatcake
- meatcase
- meat-chopper
- meat crayon
- meat curtains
- meat dealer
- meat diaper
- meat draw
- meateater
- meat eater
- meat-eater
- meat-eating
- meated
- meatface
- meatfest
- meat flaps
- meat floss
- meatfluencer
- meat fly
- meatfork
- meatful
- meat glue
- meatgrinder
- meat grinder
- meathead
- meatheaded
- meat hook / meathook
- meat house
- meatilicious
- meat injection
- meat in the room
- meatish
- meat jelly
- meat jun
- meatless
- meatlike
- meat loaf
- meatloaf
- meat lovers'
- meatman
- meat market
- meatness
- meat offering
- meat on one's bones
- meat on the bones
- meatpacker
- meatpacking
- meat pad
- meat pie
- meat-pie
- meatpole
- meat puppet
- meatpuppet
- meat rack
- meat raffle
- meat robot
- meat rod
- meat-safe
- meat safe
- meat-safe cot
- meat sauce
- meat scepter
- meat sceptre
- meat shield
- meatshot
- meat shot
- meat space
- meat-space
- meatspace
- meat stick
- meatsuit
- meat sweats
- meat tea
- meat thermometer
- meat ticket
- meat tray
- meat-wagon
- meat wagon
- meatware
- meat wool
- meatworker
- meatworks
- meaty
- meatza
- meet-meat merger
- milk before meat
- minced meat
- mock meat
- monkey meat
- more sauce than meat
- mystery meat
- mystery meat navigation
- Natchitoches meat pie
- nonmeat
- noonmeat
- nutmeat
- one man's meat is another man's poison
- piece of meat
- pigmeat
- plates of meat
- rapemeat
- red meat
- red meat radish
- roast-meat clothes
- room meat
- rose meat
- salt meat
- sausage meat
- sharkmeat
- sheepmeat
- sidemeat
- smoked meat
- smoke meat
- snakemeat
- sousemeat
- soymeat
- spoon-meat
- spoonmeat
- star meat
- sweater meat
- sweatmeat
- sweetmeat
- the other white meat
- think meat
- tiger meat
- variety meat
- whalemeat
- white meat
- wildmeat
Descendants
- Sranan Tongo: meti
Translations
animal flesh used as food
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type of meat
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any sort of flesh
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solid edible part of a plant
substance, solid part
sweet spot
slang: penis
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totem — see totem
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked: "translations to be checked"
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Anagrams
Latin
Verb
meat
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French méat, from Latin meatus.
Noun
meat n (plural meaturi)
Declension
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | ||
| nominative-accusative | meat | meatul | meaturi | meaturile | |
| genitive-dative | meat | meatului | meaturi | meaturilor | |
| vocative | meatule | meaturilor | |||