meat definition - Dictionary

Dictionary

meat [ meet ]

noun

Definition:

1. edible animal flesh: the flesh of an animal that is considered edible, especially that of a mammal or bird

2. edible fruit or nut part: the edible part of a fruit or nut, inside a shell or rind

3. important part: the essence or important part of something

the meat of the argument

4. material for thought: material that is interesting or stimulates thought

There is plenty of meat in the book.

[ Old English mete "food" < Indo-European, "measure"]

meat·less adjective

meat and drink something that somebody particularly enjoys

meat and potatoes the most basic or important idea or aspect of something

Spelling Note


	meat, meet or mete? Do not confuse the spelling of meat and meet, which sound similar. Meat is chiefly used as a noun denoting edible flesh, as in roast meat. Meet is chiefly used as a verb meaning "to encounter" or "to come together": I'll meet you outside the theater. The lines meet at this point. Meet is occasionally used as a noun, denoting a gathering of people for a sporting event or a hunt, and there is also an archaic adjective with this spelling, meaning "appropriate": It is meet to do so. Mete appears mainly in mete out meaning "to give out something such as punishment": appalled at the mistreatment meted out to them.

Word History


	The sense of meat as "animal flesh (eaten as food)" developed in the 13th century, but the original English sense "food" still survives in phrases such as "meat and drink" and "one man's meat is another man's poison" (and is also seen in the word's relatives Danish mad, Icelandic matur, and Swedish mat).