dinner
The midday meal, traditionally the big one of the day.
Updated September 21, 2026
dinner pronunciation
/DIN-er/
Meaning
In farm and mountain talk, breakfast, dinner, and supper line up morning, noon, and night. Dinner is the hot noon meal that used to fuel afternoon fieldwork. Evening food is supper. City folks often call noon lunch and night dinner, which confuses the Sunday invite something fierce.
How folks use it
- “Come on to the house for dinner around noon.”
- “We ate dinner, then went back to cutting hay till dark.”
Origin and etymology
Older English used dinner for the main meal, once eaten midday. Rural Southern, Appalachian, and Midwestern homes kept that clock: dinner at noon, supper at night. Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English records the same pattern. Lunch crept in with school and town jobs, but plenty of country tables still say dinner for midday.
Frequently asked questions
Is dinner lunch or the evening meal?
In traditional redneck and Appalachian talk, dinner is midday. Supper is evening. Elsewhere, dinner often means the night meal.