Definitions

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

  • noun A lunch, especially a formal one.
  • noun An afternoon party at which a light meal is served.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A large lump or piece, as of bread: same as lunch, Cotgrave.
  • noun A slight repast: same as lunch, 2. The form luncheon is now regarded as more “elegant” than lunch.
  • To take lunch or luncheon.

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

  • intransitive verb To take luncheon.
  • noun Prov. Eng. A lump of food.
  • noun obsolescnet A portion of food taken at any time except at a regular meal.
  • noun A lunch, especially one organized by a group as a formal social gathering.

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

  • noun A formal meal served in the middle of the day.
  • verb intransitive, dated To take luncheon.

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

  • noun a midday meal

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably alteration (influenced by dialectal lunch, hunk of cheese or bread) of obsolete nuncheon, light snack, from Middle English nonshench : none, noon; see noon + schench, drink (from Old English scenc, from scencan, to pour out).]

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Examples

  • ‘lunch’ or ‘luncheon’ has now arrived, as when we read in the newspapers of a “magnificent _luncheon_”, is altogether modern; the word belonged a century ago to rustic life, and in literature had not travelled beyond the “hobnailed pastorals” which professed to describe that life.

    English Past and Present Richard Chenevix Trench 1846

  • On the way in this morning, I couldn't help thinking of how this luncheon is a sign of the times and will probably cause one or two of this club's founding fathers to roll in their graves.

    Holding the Government Accountable for its Management of Risk 2003

  • Ladies and gentlemen, this luncheon is the Empire Club's salute to the men and women of Toronto who have committed themselves to bringing a new concert hall to this city.

    The Concert Hall as an Artistic Instrument 1979

  • The awards luncheon is on May 24 at the Sheraton featuring PBS host Maria Hinojosa.

    Afternoon Fizz: Erica Wins NARAL Award « PubliCola 2010

  • OK, the CFW luncheon is $150 a ticket, but it's an awesome event.

    Archive 2008-09-01 2008

  • OK, the CFW luncheon is $150 a ticket, but it's an awesome event.

    Event:: Chicago Foundation for Women Annual Luncheon 2008

  • A second luncheon is slated for May 5 in Greenwich, Connecticut.

    March 2007 2007

  • A Canada Day luncheon is the perfect time for this because while most people think of New Year's as the time for resolutions and new starts, for me, Canada Day is that time, for my dreams are shot through with Canada.

    A Canadian Dream 2007

  • Aside from a few exceptions, including commissioner Roger Goodell, Hall of Fame executives, trustees and selection committee members, the luncheon is open only to Hall of Famers.

    Behind the scenes at exclusive Hall of Fame luncheon 2007

  • A second luncheon is slated for May 5 in Greenwich, Connecticut.

    The Germ of an Idea 2007

Comments

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  • This might be my absolute least favorite word.

    January 8, 2008

  • Right up there with eatery on my list. It sounds like something you'd use to smack someone.

    January 8, 2008

  • Like a truncheon, only with mustard and mayo. ;-)

    January 8, 2008

  • How do you feel about nuncheon?

    January 8, 2008

  • Strangely enough, nuncheon also sounds like something you'd use to smack someone--kind of a cross between nunchucks and a truncheon.

    January 9, 2008

  • Skipvia, are you feeling a little hostile today? ;-)

    January 9, 2008

  • This is a word only the Victorians were qualified to say.

    January 9, 2008

  • I like this word halfheartedly ONLY when used ironically and followed by meats. Luncheon meats just cracks me up. It feels like an old lady word. Like parlor.

    January 9, 2008

  • Mmmm...luncheon meats.

    January 9, 2008

  • Pork 'n' beans!

    January 9, 2008

  • Can you imagine not breaking into peals of laughter if you saw that in a buffet line? It looks like a bunch of priapic elves doing the backstroke.

    January 11, 2008

  • They could be exceptionally large, rough-hewn toothpicks, you know.

    January 11, 2008

  • OK--I guess sometimes a hot dog sticking straight up from a vat of pork 'n' beans is just a hot dog sticking straight up from...

    Nope...can't buy it. It still looks like an X-rated synchronized swimming event to me.

    January 11, 2008

  • THANK YOU, skipvia, for making me laugh out loud at work in my CUBICLE, whereupon everyone asks 'what's so funny?' like they have ANY RIGHT to view priapic elves in an X-rated synchronized swimming event!

    I will never eat beenie weenies again without thinking of luncheon meats. Or maybe I'll just never eat beenie weenies ag... wait. I never did!

    January 11, 2008

  • Another much-loved food abandoned after it gets the Wordie Treatment. So sad....

    January 11, 2008

  • Hey. I didn't bring up luncheon meats.

    Wait...that doesn't sound right.

    January 11, 2008

  • Speaking of which, is there a list of luncheon meats yet? I could use some olive loaf.

    Edit: Aw, heck, I just went ahead and added it as an open list. Enjoy!

    (And, disturbingly, when I Wikipedia'd olive loaf to make sure it was what I meant, I encountered this line: "This meat-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it." Which reminded me of those priapic aquatic elves again...)

    January 17, 2008

  • I love olive loaf!

    Wait, maybe I said that too loudly....

    January 17, 2008

  • MIKADO. Now, let's see about your execution--will

    after luncheon suit you? Can you wait till then?

    KO-KO, PITTI-SING, and POOH-BAH. Oh, yes--we can wait till then!

    MIKADO. Then we'll make it after luncheon.

    POOH-BAH. I don't want any lunch.

    MIKADO. I'm really very sorry for you all, but it's an unjust world, and virtue is triumphant only in theatrical performances.

    -- W.S. Gilbert, The Mikado

    (that last line is one of the best in the entire language, seconded only closely by Westley in the Princess Bride: "Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says otherwise is only trying to sell something.")

    August 21, 2008

  • Hey..... I have a parlor....

    December 19, 2008

  • Skipvia, I came across this and thought of you.

    Not that way.

    July 20, 2009

  • Wow. Even the URL is particularly ... interesting.

    July 20, 2009

  • And then there's this one.

    July 21, 2009

  • What is it about wieners that makes people think of me?

    July 21, 2009

  • Perhaps it's your mention of the priapic elves....

    July 21, 2009

  • Oh, the humanity! WHAT is that child eating? Guts?? Wait... is it even a child?!

    Skip, there are worse things to be associated with. Trust me.

    July 21, 2009

  • He looks like he's using those wieners as a sort of chaser for whatever it is he is eating. (His mother could have at least cooked them, or maybe put them on a plate.)

    July 21, 2009

  • I don't think they're chasers. I think that one in his hand is some sort of control stick. And that is not a child. I mean, look at it--there's a third eye growing between the other two!

    July 21, 2009

  • Well, it might be an alien. See that alien food in front of the bowl of guts?

    July 21, 2009

  • It seems to me that his alien creators are not without a sick sense of humor. How else to explain their tracing a sketch of Miss Piggy in freckles on his "face"? (I must confess to not being able to discern the third eye that reesetee refers to)

    C_b raises a good point. What one might naively think are olives and bananas could in fact be the bodies of alien soldiers with their shields, just awaiting the call to wreak mayhem on humankind.

    July 21, 2009

  • Whoa--I thought the freckles were a map to the planet Nebali.

    July 21, 2009

  • Well, that's my point, you see? Wieners are apparently some form of alien...er, tool...to take over Earth. Puts those priapic elves in a whole new light, let me tell you.

    July 21, 2009

  • Sometimes a wiener is just a wiener. You may already be one.

    July 21, 2009

  • I'm starting to really like the word wiener. Wiener, wiener, wiener.

    July 21, 2009

  • Ahhhh. Wiener jokes on wordie first thing this morning. It's going to be a good day!

    July 21, 2009

  • Skip's linked sentence made me think of the old Palmolive ad: "You're soaking in it." I didn't really want to think too hard about how that connects with wieners.

    July 21, 2009

  • Maybe you're right, skip. I'm going to run out and buy one of those wiener ski sweaters right now!

    July 21, 2009

  • *still trying to figure out how "you're soaking in it" connects with wiener*

    July 21, 2009

  • It doesn't, really. I just thought of it when sionnach said "you may already be one." It's a similarly ominous sentence, just like "you're soaking in it." ... And I wouldn't think any harder about this or things might derail mighty quick.

    July 21, 2009

  • I think that c_b is confusing me with an alien wiener. Did I say "you may already be one"? I think not.

    July 22, 2009

  • Apparently both sionnach and skipvia, to me anyway, are sometimes wieners.

    (sorry about that...)

    At least I didn't call skipvia an alien wiener, like SOME people around here... AHEM.

    ;)

    July 22, 2009

  • I never sausage a conversation in my life.

    *ducks rotten tomatoes*

    July 22, 2009

  • *is relieved*

    July 22, 2009

  • Tsk, tsk, c_b - you wouldn't be engaging in a little phony umbrage-taking now, would you? Besides which, I don't think the term "alien" is necessarily pejorative. The U.S. government's official designation for me is "resident alien".

    But of course I was just joshing. I hope that skip understands that I hold him in the highest esteem, grovel grovel etc etc.

    The "soaking in it" part of this conversation confuses me enormously.

    July 22, 2009

  • *sneaks a bit of phony umbrage out between aliens, weiners and rotten tomatoes*

    July 22, 2009

  • *runs off to parlor to stash it*

    July 22, 2009

  • *plans to mention this caper at the luncheon tomorrow*

    July 22, 2009

  • *Considers cancelling luncheon on account of mysterious phony umbrage in parlour.*

    July 22, 2009

  • No problem, sionnach. You're soaking in it. (hint: click on link, then click on other link. Not that all will be made clear, but at least you won't be on this page anymore, what with the alien life-form eating guts.)

    July 22, 2009

  • And no one sees that third eye?

    July 22, 2009

  • Is it a glowing white thing? If so, I saw it.

    If it's a freckle, I'm afraid the creature has more than just three. (Not that there's anything wrong with freckles, except on creatures that eat raw guts, or on creatures, like this one, who obviously had them painted on in a failed attempt to appear humanoid.)

    July 22, 2009

  • Yes! Yes, it's a glowing white thing! You see? It's an alien wiener wielder, that faux-freckled creature.

    July 22, 2009

  • I just read reesetee's sausage comment, over a year after he wrote it, and laughed so hard I nearly choked on my food. Note to self: lunching while reading Wordnik can be hazardous to your health!

    March 5, 2011

  • Ptero, I just read the entire page again and laughed so hard I woke up a flock of sleeping birds. In the house, that is.

    I hope you've recovered from the choking episode. :-)

    March 27, 2011

  • *still loves this page*

    November 5, 2011

  • *returns to this page for a laugh*

    *laughs*

    March 5, 2012

  • In the interest of providing comparative images, I humbly present this jewel. More on this fascinating...uh...concoction?...is available here.

    I miss Skip.

    March 22, 2012

  • Oh God. Is that whipped cream? My eyes! My eyes!

    March 22, 2012

  • Mayonnaise? MAYONNAISE?? Gaaaaah.

    hork

    March 23, 2012

  • what Little Edie Bouvier calls the cats out to

    March 19, 2014

  • Ye Gods. I just looked at the banana pictures again--it *was* mayonnaise. Ew.

    March 19, 2014