undermeal

English

Etymology

From Middle English undermele, undermel (“the early part of the afternoon, midday, noon; an afternoon meal or nap”), from Old English undernmǣl (“morning, morning time; morning meal”), equivalent to undern +‎ meal. Compare the word for midday and the word undern.

Noun

undermeal (plural undermeals)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of undern: originally terce and the morning, later (UK, dialectal, obsolete) noon and the early afternoon.
   • 1599, Nash, Leuten Stuff:

     By the time—he hath din'd at a taverne, and slept his undermeals at a bawdy-house, his purse is [empty].

2. (obsolete) Synonym of siesta: an afternoon nap.
   • 1599, Nash, Leuten Stuff:

     In a narrower limit than the forty years' undermeal of the seven sleepers.

3. (obsolete) An afternoon meal or snack.
   • 1608, Withals:

     Another great supper, or undermeal, was made ready for them, coming home from ditching and plowing.

   • c. 1614-1631, Ben Johnson, Bartholomew Fayre: A Comedy:

     I think I am furnished for [=with] Cather'ne pears, [enough] for one undermeal.

   • 1630, Samuel Ward, “Sermon on the Life of Faith, quoted in 1883”, in Kingsthorpiana; Or, Researches in a Church Chest, page 97:

     Why should not thy soul have her due drinks, breakfasts, meals, undermeals, bevers, and aftermeals, as well as thy body?'

Synonyms

• (time of day): noon, terce; see also Thesaurus:midday
• (afternoon nap): See Thesaurus:shut-eye
• (meal): See Thesaurus:meal

References

• "undermeal, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• “undermeal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• denumeral