Meal vs Mead - What's the difference?

As a noun meal

is (senseid)food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time (eg breakfast = morning meal, lunch = noon meal, etc) or meal can be the coarse-ground edible part of various grains often used to feed animals; flour or meal can be a speck or spot.

As a verb meal

is to defile or taint.

As a proper noun mead is

meal

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

(senseid)Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time (e.g. breakfast = morning meal, lunch = noon meal, etc).

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)

, title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}

Food served or eaten as a repast.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April, author=Anna Lena Phillips, volume=100, issue=2, page=172

, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Sneaky Silk Moths , passage=Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.}}

Hyponyms

* See also

Derived terms

* make a meal of * meal mob * meal station * meal ticket

Etymology 2

From (etyl) mele, from (etyl) . More at (l).

Noun

(-)

The coarse-ground edible part of various grains often used to feed animals; flour.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)

, title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal .}}

Derived terms

* mealy * cornmeal * oatmeal

Etymology 3

Variation of mole (compare (etyl) mail), from (etyl) mole, mool, from (etyl) . More at (l).

Noun

(en noun)

A speck or spot.

A part; a fragment; a portion.

Verb

(en verb)

To defile or taint.

Were he meal'd with that / Which he corrects, than were he tyrannous. ? Shakespeare.

Anagrams

* 1000 English basic words ----

mead

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) mede, from (etyl) medu, from (etyl) ‘honey; honey wine’.

Alternative forms

* meath, meathe, meeth (all obsolete)

Noun

(en-noun)

An alcoholic drink fermented from honey and water.

(US) A drink composed of syrup of sarsaparilla or other flavouring extract, and water, and sometimes charged with carbonic acid gas.

Derived terms

* mead-bench * meadery

Etymology 2

From (etyl) . Cognate with West Frisian miede, Low German Meed, (Mede).

Noun

(en noun)

(poetic) A meadow.

* 1848 , , In Memoriam , 28:

Four voices of four hamlets round, / From far and near, on mead and moor, / Swell out and fail, as if a door / Were shut between me and the sound [...].

* 1920 , :

There ran little streams over bright pebbles, dividing meads of green and gardens of many hues, [...].

Anagrams

* ----