luncheon
- 01 C1 Advanced
a formal meal served in the middle of the day, often for a special event.
a formal midday meal, often held to honour a guest or mark a specific occasion. The term implies a higher degree of ceremony than 'lunch'.
Simple“The charity held a fundraising luncheon at the hotel for its donors.”
In context“The university hosted a formal luncheon in the Great Hall to celebrate the visiting professor's lifetime achievements in literature.”
- 02 C2 Proficiency
an old-fashioned word for lunch.
a midday meal; the original full form of the word 'lunch'.
Simple“In the old novel, the characters stopped for a quick luncheon at the inn.”
In context“Nineteenth-century etiquette dictated specific dress codes for a lady attending a private luncheon at a friend's estate.”
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
a type of large, cheap sausage that is sliced thin.
a large, precooked, processed meat product, typically served in thin slices as a sandwich filling.
Simple“He made a simple sandwich with two slices of luncheon and some mustard.”
In context“The deli counter was stocked with various types of luncheon, though the cheaper varieties were mostly composed of cereal fillers.”
Synonyms
From earlier lunching, of uncertain origin. Possibly derived from an earlier lumpchin, lumpchen, a diminutive of lump (“chunk, parcel of food, lunch”), thus related to lunch, q.v. It is unclear which came first: whether lunch is a shortening of luncheon, or whether luncheon is an augmentation of lunch. Possibly influenced by nuncheon (“light snack taken in the afternoon”). The "sausage" sense is probably a shortening of luncheon sausage or luncheon meat.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.