supper

supper pronunciation

/SUP-ur/

Meaning

In a lot of rural Southern and Appalachian houses, supper is what you eat when the day work is done. Dinner might mean the big midday meal, especially on Sunday or for older farm families. Supper is beans, cornbread, leftovers dug out of the fridge, or whatever got put on the table after the sun went down. Church supper leans the same way: plain food, folks sitting together, nothing tuxedo about it.

How folks use it

• “Y'all come by for supper. We're having fried chicken.”
• “He won't be home till after supper. He's still in the field.”

Origin and etymology

Old English and farm English kept dinner as the main meal of the day, often at noon when field work needed fuel. Supper was the lighter evening meal (related to the idea of 'supping' soup). Rural South and Appalachia held onto that split longer than cities did. Many city folks now say dinner for night, but plenty of country talkers still say supper.

Frequently asked questions