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dishes

 - 4 dictionary results

dish

[dish]
–noun
1. an open, relatively shallow container of pottery, glass, metal, wood, etc., used for various purposes, esp. for holding or serving food.
2. any container used at table: dirty dishes.
3. the food served or contained in a dish: The meal consisted of several dishes.
4. a particular article, type, or preparation of food: Rice is an inexpensive dish.
5. the quantity held by a dish; dishful: a dish of applesauce.
6. anything like a dish in form or use.
7. concavity or the degree of concavity, as of a wheel.
8. Also called dish antenna. a concave, dish-shaped reflector serving to focus electromagnetic energy as part of a transmitter or receiver of radio, television, or microwave signals.
9. Slang: Sometimes Offensive. an attractive girl or woman: The receptionist is quite a dish.
10. Slang. an item of gossip.
–verb (used with object)
11. to put into or serve in a dish, as food: to dish food onto plates.
12. to fashion like a dish; make concave.
13. Slang. to gossip about: They talked all night, dishing their former friends.
14. Slang. to defeat; frustrate; cheat.
–verb (used without object)
15. Slang. to talk together informally, esp., to gossip.
16. dish out, Informal.
a. to serve (food) from a serving dish, pot, etc.
b. to deal out; distribute: She dished out our pay in silver dollars.
17. dish it out, Informal. to dispense abusive language, punishment, or praise, enthusiastic approval, etc.: When it comes to flattery, he can really dish it out.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE disc dish, plate, bowl (akin to G Tisch table) < L discus dish, discus
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To dishes
dish   (dĭsh)   
n.  
    1. An open, generally shallow concave container for holding, cooking, or serving food.

    2. dishes The containers and often the utensils used when eating: took out the dishes and silverware; washed the dishes.

    3. A shallow concave container used for purposes other than eating: an evaporating dish.

    4. The food served or contained in a dish: a dish of ice cream.

    5. A particular variety or preparation of food: Sushi is a Japanese dish.

    6. A depression similar to that in a shallow concave container for food.

    7. The degree of concavity in such a depression.

  1. The amount that a dish can hold.

    1. The food served or contained in a dish: a dish of ice cream.

    2. A particular variety or preparation of food: Sushi is a Japanese dish.

    3. A depression similar to that in a shallow concave container for food.

    4. The degree of concavity in such a depression.

    1. A depression similar to that in a shallow concave container for food.

    2. The degree of concavity in such a depression.

  2. Electronics A dish antenna.

  3. Slang A good-looking person, especially an attractive woman.

  4. Informal Idle talk; gossip: "plenty of dish about her tattoos, her plastic surgeries, and her ever-younger inamorati" (Louise Kennedy).

v.   dished, dish·ing, dish·es

v.   tr.
  1. To serve (food) in or as if in a dish: dished up the stew.

  2. To present: dished up an excellent entertainment.

  3. To hollow out; make concave.

  4. Informal To gossip about.

  5. Chiefly British Slang To ruin, foil, or defeat.

v.   intr. Informal
To talk idly, especially to gossip.
Phrasal Verb(s):
dish outTo dispense freely: likes to dish out advice.

Idiom(s):
dish it out Slang To deal out criticism or abuse.

[Middle English, from Old English disc, from Latin discus; see disk.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
dish (sth)

  1. tv.
    to serve up food to people. (Standard English.) : I'll dish it out, and you take it to the table.
  2. tv.
    to distribute information, news, etc. : The press secretaries were dishing reports out as fast as they could write them.
  3. tv.
    to give out trouble, scoldings, criticism, etc. : The boss was dishing criticism out this morning, and I really got it.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

dish 
O.E. disc "plate, bowl, platter," borrowed c.700 from L. discus "dish, platter, quoit," from Gk. diskos "disk, platter." O.H.G. borrowed the word as tisc "plate," but Ger. tisch now means "table," in common with other later Romantic forms (cf. It. desco, Fr. dais). Meaning "variety of food served" is first recorded c.1450. Verb meaning "to disparage, denigrate" first recorded 1940s; probably from the same notion in fig. dish it out (1934). Dish-cloth (1828) relegated earlier dish-clout (1530) to dialect. Dish-washer is c.1529, of persons, 1867 of machines. Dish-water is attested from 1484. Dishy "very attractive" is attested from 1961.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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