meat

[meet] /mit/
noun
1.
the flesh of animals as used for food.
2.
the edible part of anything, as a fruit or nut:
Crack the walnuts and remove the meats.
3.
the essential point or part of an argument, literary work, etc.; gist; crux:
The meat of the play is the jealousy between the two brothers.
4.
solid food:
meat and drink.
5.
solid or substantial content; pith:
The article was full of meat, with few wasted words.
6.
a favorite occupation, activity, etc.:
Chess is his meat.
7.
Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. pork, especially bacon.
8.
Slang: Vulgar. penis.
9.
Archaic. the principal meal:
to say grace before meat.
Idioms
10.
piece of meat, Slang.
  1. a person regarded merely as a sex object.
  2. a person, as a prizefighter or laborer, regarded merely as a strong or useful physical specimen.
Origin
before 900; Middle English, Old English mete food, cognate with Old High German maz, Old Norse matr, Gothic mats
Related forms
meatless, adjective
Can be confused
meat, meet.
Examples from the web for meat
  • Whether all the meat was consumed immediately is unclear.
  • They found that pounded meat and potatoes caused more weight gain than raw food.
  • Poachers are also killing orangutans for food for the so-called bush meat trade.
  • The loss driven by meat consumption seems to outweigh the gain from the fast food and meat industry.
  • And since corn is used as animal feed, the price of meat goes up, too.
  • Rare-breed advocates say the best way to preserve vulnerable cattle is to keep them in the food chain, producing milk or meat.
  • After their deaths, llamas provided hide for leathers and meat for food.
  • Horses are not generally raised for food or hides, though they may be utilized for meat or leather.
  • McDonald's sells healthy fast food, such as fruit and walnut salad, as well as the usual slabs of meat and cheese in a bun.
  • So far, a voluntary moratorium by food manufacturers has kept milk and meat from clones off the market.
British Dictionary definitions for meat

meat

/miːt/
noun
1.
the flesh of mammals used as food, as distinguished from that of birds and fish
2.
anything edible, esp flesh with the texture of meat: crab meat
3.
food, as opposed to drink
4.
the essence or gist
5.
an archaic word for meal1
6.
meat and drink, a source of pleasure
7.
(Irish, informal) have one's meat and one's manners, to lose nothing because one's offer is not accepted
Derived Forms
meatless, adjective
Word Origin
Old English mete; related to Old High German maz food, Old Saxon meti, Gothic mats
Word Origin and History for meat
n.

Old English mete "food, item of food" (paired with drink), from Proto-Germanic *mati (cf. Old Frisian mete, Old Saxon meti, Old Norse matr, Old High German maz, Gothic mats "food," Middle Dutch, Dutch metworst, German Mettwurst "type of sausage"), from PIE *mad-i-, from root *mad- "moist, wet," also with reference to food qualities, (cf. Sanskrit medas- "fat" (n.), Old Irish mat "pig;" see mast (n.2)).

Narrower sense of "flesh used as food" is first attested c.1300; similar sense evolution in French viande "meat," originally "food." Figurative sense of "essential part" is from 1901. Dark meat, white meat popularized 19c., supposedly as euphemisms for leg and breast, but earliest sources use both terms without apparent embarrassment.

The choicest parts of a turkey are the side bones, the breast, and the thigh bones. The breast and wings are called light meat; the thigh-bones and side-bones dark meat. When a person declines expressing a preference, it is polite to help to both kinds. [Lydia Maria Child, "The American Frugal Housewife," Boston, 1835]
First record of meat loaf is from 1876. Meat market "place where one looks for sex partners" is from 1896 (meat in various sexual senses of "penis, vagina, body regarded as a sex object, prostitute" are attested from 1590s); meat wagon "ambulance" is from 1920, American English slang, said to date from World War I (in a literal sense by 1857). Meat-grinder in the figurative sense attested by 1951. Meat-hook in colloquial transferred sense "arm" attested by 1919.

Slang definitions & phrases for meat

meat

noun
  1. A person considered merely as a sex partner or object; ass (1597+)
  2. The vulva; cunt (1611+)
  3. The penis; prick (1595+)
  4. A stupid person; meathead: to see a bunch of meats play (1970s+ Students)
  5. The depth of tread on a car tire (1970s+ Car racing)
  6. Solid value or meaning; substance: The ones that contained real meat were milked capably by the cast (1886+)
Related Terms

beat one's meat, cold meat, dark meat, easy meat, jump on someone's meat, make hamburger (or hash or mincemeat) out of someone or something, white meat


Idioms and Phrases with meat

meat

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