meat

meat (miːt)

—n
1.	the flesh of mammals used as food, as distinguished from that of birds and fish
2.	anything edible, esp flesh with the texture of meat: crab meat
3.	food, as opposed to drink
4.	the essence or gist
5.	an archaic word for meal
6.	meat and drink a source of pleasure
7.	informal (Irish) have one's meat and one's manners to lose nothing because one's offer is not accepted

[Old English mete; related to Old High German maz food, Old Saxon meti, Gothic mats]

'meatless

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

meat

O.E. mete "food, item of food" (contrasted with drink), from P.Gmc. *matiz (cf. O.Fris. mete, O.N. matr, Goth. mats "food," M.Du., Du. metworst, Ger. Mettwurst "type of sausage"), from PIE *mat-/*met- "measure" (see meter (2)). Narrower sense of "flesh used as food" is first

attested c.1300; similar sense evolution in Fr. viande "meat," originally "food." Figurative sense of "essential part" is from 1901. Dark meat, white meat supposedly popularized by Victorians as euphemisms for leg and breast. First record of meat loaf is from 1932. Meathead "stupid person" is from 1945; meat market "place where one looks for sex partners" is from 1896 (meat in various sexual senses of "penis, vagina, body regarded as a sex object, prostitute" are attested from 1595); meat wagon "ambulance" is from 1925, Amer.Eng. slang. Meaty "full of substance" is from 1881.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

meat definition

n.
the penis. : He held his hands over his meat and ran for the bedroom.
n.
the genitals of either sex; the sexual parts of either sex. : I don't want to see your meat! What kind of creep do you think I am?
n.
a person of either sex considered sexually. : If she doesn't manage to wrap her legs around that big hunk of meat within the next twenty minutes, I'd lose my bet.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

meat

In addition to the idioms beginning with meat, also see beat the meat; one's man's meat is another man's poison.

Example sentences

Horses are not generally raised for food or hides, though they may be utilized for meat or leather.

McDonald's sells healthy fast food, such as fruit and walnut salad, as well as the usual slabs of meat and cheese in a bun.

Scratched-up animal bones showing where early humans cut off the meat are much easier to find than evidence for omnivorousness.

So far, a voluntary moratorium by food manufacturers has kept milk and meat from clones off the market.

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kabob marinade mincemeat red meat sauce spareribs

Slang

all meat and no potatoes beat one's meat beat the meat buzzard meat dog meat

meat puppet meat wagon meat whistle mystery meat pound one's meat

Idioms & Phrases

meat

beat the meat

one's man's meat is another man's poison

Matching Quote

"He'd been numb a long time, years. All his nights down Ninsei, his nights with Linda, numb in bed and numb at the cold sweating center of every drug deal. But now he'd found this warm thing, this chip of murder. Meat, some part of him said. It's the meat talking, ignore it."

-William Gibson