snack

[snak] /snæk/
noun
1.
a small portion of food or drink or a light meal, especially one eaten between regular meals.
2.
a share or portion.
3.
Australian Slang. something easily done.
verb (used without object)
4.
to have a snack or light meal, especially between regular meals:
They snacked on tea and cake.
Idioms
5.
go snack / snacks, to share (profits or returns).
Origin
1300-50; (noun) Middle English: a snap or bite, derivative of snacken to snap, bite; compare Middle Dutch snack a snap; (v.) derivative of the noun
Examples from the web for snack
  • No dishes to clean as every meal and snack will be provided.
  • Regularly scheduled meal and snack times help your preschooler learn structure for eating.
  • Not too heavy, not too light-perfect for a light lunch or snack with tea.
  • Freeze blueberries on a cookie sheet and store them in freezer bags so you can snack on them all year.
  • Now they're gone from a cute vegetable to a gourmet party snack.
  • Dip your feet in the water while you snack on movie candy, sweet-potato fries, or wine and cheese plates.
  • So forget the chips-a banana is a safer snack for your health.
  • It could be that someone brought one in as an eventual snack but that snack managed to get loose.
  • But when they get close they turn away from our heads and dive for our feet-apparently their preferred snack spot.
  • And those tangles of hair slowed down the bug's search for a place to snack, too.
British Dictionary definitions for snack

snack

/snæk/
noun
1.
a light quick meal eaten between or in place of main meals
2.
a sip or bite
3.
(rare) a share
4.
(Austral, informal) a very easy task
verb
5.
(intransitive) to eat a snack
Word Origin
C15: probably from Middle Dutch snacken, variant of snappen to snap
Word Origin and History for snack
v.

c.1300, "to bite or snap" (of a dog), probably from Middle Dutch or Flemish snacken "to snatch, snap; chatter," which Watkins traces to a hypothetical Germanic imitative root *snu- forming words having to do with the nose (see snout). The meaning "have a mere bite or morsel, eat a light meal" is first attested 1807. Related: Snacked; snacking.

n.

c.1400, "a snatch or snap" (especially that of a dog), from snack (v.). Later "a snappish remark" (1550s); "a share, portion, part" (1680s; hence old expression go snacks "share, divide; have a share in"). Main modern meaning "a bite or morsel to eat hastily" is attested from 1757. Snack bar is attested from 1923. Commercial plural form snax attested from 1942 in the vending machine trade.