Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of refreshing or the state of being refreshed.
  • noun Something, such as food or drink, that refreshes.
  • noun A snack, light meal, or drink.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of refreshing, or the state of being refreshed; relief after exhaustion, etc.
  • noun That which refreshes; a recreation; that which gives fresh strength or vigor, as food, drink, or rest: in the plural it is now almost exclusively applied to food and drink.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of refreshing, or the state of being refreshed; restoration of strength, spirit, vigor, or liveliness; relief after suffering; new life or animation after depression.
  • noun That which refreshes; means of restoration or reanimation; especially, an article of food or drink.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The action of refreshing; a means of restoring strength, energy or vigour.
  • noun A light snack or fresh drink without alcohol.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun snacks and drinks served as a light meal
  • noun activity that refreshes and recreates; activity that renews your health and spirits by enjoyment and relaxation

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Recorded since 1665; either directly or via refreschement, from Old French refrescher (12th century; modern rafraîchir), itself from re- "again" + fresche "fresh" (Modern French frais; from a Germanic source, cognate with Old High German frisc, modern German frisch, Dutch fris etc.)

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Examples

  • There was every kind of hot and cold liquors; everything which can be the most widely and the most splendidly comprehended under the term refreshment:

    Court Memoirs of France Series — Complete Various

  • There was every kind of hot and cold liquors; everything which can be the most widely and the most splendidly comprehended under the term refreshment:

    Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Complete Louis de Rouvroy Saint-Simon 1715

  • There was every kind of hot and cold liquors; everything which can be the most widely and the most splendidly comprehended under the term refreshment:

    Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 02 Louis de Rouvroy Saint-Simon 1715

  • What do you think of when you hear the word refreshment?

    Archive 2008-12-01 Happy 2008

  • What do you think of when you hear the word refreshment?

    snow fly Happy 2008

  • Three, all under two years old, alternately made staggering rushes to the edge of the unguarded trap-door – and were rescued just in time to prevent their committing suicide in the depths – and rushes to obtain refreshment from the breasts of their mothers, which were conveniently exposed.

    High Albania Mary Edith 1909

  • In such living, personal character and taste would flower as never before; the home of each individual would be at last a true personal expression; and the union of individuals in marriage would not compel the jumbling together of all the external machinery of their lives, – a process in which much of the delicacy and freshness of love, to say nothing of the power of mutual rest and refreshment, is constantly lost.

    Women and Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation Between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution 1898

  • Somehow, in spite of myself, my despair was slipping away and a feeling of - "refreshment" - seems somehow the best word-was rising within me.

    The Courts of Chaos Zelazny, Roger 1978

  • Because it is ordained for spiritual refreshment, which is conformed to corporeal refreshment.

    Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition Aquinas Thomas

  • Tenth -- If possible avoid patronizing the so-called refreshment wagons or dining cars, which are expensive and uniformly bad.

    Europe Revised 1910

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