square meal
English edit
Etymology edit
From square (“hearty, vigorous”) + meal;[1] this sense of square (originally US) is possibly from the fact that square plates were used to serve food on ships.[2]
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /skwɛə ˈmiːl/, /skwɛː-/
- (General American) IPA(key): /skwɛɚ ˈmil/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -iːl
Noun edit
square meal (plural square meals)
- (idiomatic) A (nutritionally) complete and satisfying meal, especially one suitable for a person performing physical labour.
- Synonym: (US, elliptical) square
- Three square meals a day should give you plenty of energy.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see square, meal.
- 2020, B. Wäppling Raaholt, “Influence of food geometry and dielectric properties on heating performance”, in Ulrich Erle, Peter Pesheck, Matthew Lorence, editors, Development of Packaging and Products for Use in Microwave Ovens, Woodhead Publishing, , →ISBN, page 82:
- [Figure 2.5] Simulation of overheating effects for two meals of different geometries […] Left: square meal (13 cm × 13 cm with corner diameter 2 cm and height 6 cm).
Related terms edit
- square deal (rhymes and shares a semantic theme of square as “adequate” and “proper”)
- three squares
Translations edit
complete and satisfying meal
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Compare “square, adj.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021.
- ^ “square meal, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.