Definition of "dinner" []

• The chief meal of the day, eaten in the evening or at midday. (noun)
• A banquet or formal meal in honor of a person or event. (noun)
• The food prepared for either of these meals. (noun)
• A full-course meal served at a fixed price; table d'hôte. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "At length the clock in the steeple of the "Old South" pronounced that the dinner hour had arrived -- and despite the intense cold, the street soon became alive with people hurrying to and fro; for what weather can induce a hungry man to neglect that important era in the events of the day -- his _dinner_?"
• "'We had,' she records, in May 1779, 'a very grand dinner to-day, _though nothing to a Streatham dinner_, at the Ship Tavern [Brighton], where the officers mess, to which we were invited by the major and the captain. '"
• "In our house the term dinner was reserved for special occasions and holidays."