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REFERENCE

meat

n.
US //ˈmit// UK //mˈiːt// meat
  1. 1 animal flesh for food (n.)
    A1 Beginner

    the flesh of an animal that people eat.

    the flesh of an animal, typically muscle tissue, consumed as food. Uncountable in its general sense.

    Example

    We decided to stop eating meat and became vegetarians last year.

    Example

    The chef insisted on sourcing organic meat from local farms to ensure the highest quality for the restaurant's signature dishes.
  2. 2 the core or substance (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Informal

    the most important or interesting part of something, like a story or an idea.

    the most substantial or essential part of an idea, argument, or piece of writing.

    Example

    The first few pages were boring, but then I got to the meat of the story.

    Example

    After twenty minutes of polite introductions, the negotiators finally reached the meat of the contract regarding intellectual property rights.
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  1. 3 part of a fruit or nut (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    the thick, solid part of a fruit or nut that you can eat.

    the edible, fleshy part of a fruit, nut, or seed, as distinguished from the shell or skin.

    Example

    It took a long time to crack the coconut and get to the white meat inside.

    Example

    The recipe requires you to scoop out the meat of the avocado and mash it with lime juice and salt.
  2. 4 sweet spot of a bat (n.)
    C1 Advanced Informal Sport

    the best part of a bat or club to hit a ball with.

    the sweet spot or most effective hitting area of a sports implement such as a cricket bat or baseball bat.

    Example

    He hit the ball right on the meat of the bat and it flew over the fence.

    Example

    The batsman timed the delivery perfectly, catching it on the meat of the blade to send the ball racing toward the boundary.
    • sweet spot
  3. 5 penis (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Slang Vulgar

    a very informal and sometimes rude word for a penis.

    a slang term for the penis. Often carries a vulgar or highly informal connotation.

    Example

    The teenagers were making crude jokes about meat in the locker room.

    Example

    The script was criticized for its reliance on low-brow humor and frequent references to 'meat' that many viewers found offensive.
    • phallus
  4. 6 food in general (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Archaic Dialect

    an old word for any kind of solid food.

    solid food in general, as distinguished from drink. Now largely restricted to fixed idioms or specific dialects.

    Example

    In the old story, the traveler asked the innkeeper for some meat and drink.

    Example

    The archaic usage of 'meat' to describe any solid nourishment is still evident in certain rural dialects and seventeenth-century literature.

    Usage

    Commonly survives in the proverb 'one man's meat is another man's poison'.
Origin

From Middle English mete, from Old English mete (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic mati, from Proto-Germanic matiz (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to drip, ooze; grease, fat”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian Miit (“meat”), Danish mad (“food”), Faroese and Icelandic matur (“food, meal”), Norn mader (“food”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish mat (“food”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍄𐍃 (mats, “food”). A -ja- derivation from the same base is found in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German met (“lean pork”), from which Dutch met (“minced pork”) and German Mett (“minced meat”) derive, respectively. Compare also Old Irish mess (“animal feed”) and Welsh mes (“acorns”), English mast (“fodder for swine and other animals”), which are probably from the same root.

Word family
Idioms8 entries

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