SUPPER

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A light evening meal; served in early evening if dinner is at midday or served late in the evening at bedtime

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("supper" is a kind of...):

meal; repast (the food served and eaten at one time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "supper"):

Passover supper; Seder ((Judaism) the ceremonial dinner on the first night (or both nights) of Passover)

Derivation:

sup (take solid or liquid food into the mouth a little at a time either by drinking or by eating with a spoon)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A social gathering where a light evening meal is served

Example:

her suppers often included celebrities

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("supper" is a kind of...):

social affair; social gathering (a gathering for the purpose of promoting fellowship)

Derivation:

sup (take solid or liquid food into the mouth a little at a time either by drinking or by eating with a spoon)

Credits

Context examples:

I can have you now for my supper.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Emma said it would be awkward; Mrs. Weston was in distress about the supper; and Mr. Woodhouse opposed it earnestly, on the score of health.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“By the way, sir, speaking of fighting men, I give a supper to the Fancy at the Waggon and Horses on Friday next,” said my uncle.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Let her name her own supper, and go to bed.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Mrs. Bennet had designed to keep the two Netherfield gentlemen to supper; but their carriage was unluckily ordered before any of the others, and she had no opportunity of detaining them.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“You may go below, my man. Hands will want supper.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Toto ate a little of everything, and was glad to get a good supper again.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Also, the dog-driver rubbed Buck’s feet for half an hour each night after supper, and sacrificed the tops of his own moccasins to make four moccasins for Buck.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It was now about eight o’clock at night, and the captain ordered supper immediately, thinking I had already fasted too long.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

We shall have some cold supper before we start.