dinner

Etymology

From Middle English dyner, from Old French disner (“lunch”, but originally “breakfast”), (modern French dîner), from Vulgar Latin *disiūnō, *disiūnāre from Latin dis- + iēiūnō (“to break the fast”). Doublet of diner.

noun

1. A midday meal (in a context in which the evening meal is called supper or tea).
   It was already late for school, so the boy took his time and only arrived in the village when Heidi came home for dinner. […] "Come to the table now and eat with us. Then you can go up with Heidi, and when you bring her back at night, you can get your supper here." 1919, Elisabeth P. Stork (translator), Heidi, Johanna Spyrihttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/20781/20781-h/20781-h.htm
2. The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.
   I want to cook dinner. Audio (US) (file) 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
3. An evening meal.
   I had some friends to dinner two nights ago.
4. A meal given to an animal.
   Give the dog its dinner.
5. A formal meal for many people eaten for a special occasion.
   Soon after the arrival of Mrs. Campbell, dinner was announced by Abboye. He came into the drawing room resplendent in his gold-and-white turban. […] His cummerbund matched the turban in gold lines. 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings
6. (uncountable) The food provided or consumed at any such meal.

verb

1. (intransitive) To eat a dinner; to dine.
   Once I was geared up, I joined him on the wide, flat seat of the sled which was loaded up with hot food for the jacks who were dinnering out since they worked a forty far from the camp. 2014, Caroline Akervik, chapter 6, in White Pine, White Bear Lake, MN: Melange Books, page 57
2. (transitive) To provide (someone) with a dinner; to dine.
   1887, Caroline Emily Cameron, A Devout Lover, London: F.V. White & Co., Volume 1, Chapter 11, p. 181, She had taken her about to concerts and exhibitions—she had dinnered her at the Colonies, and suppered her at the New Club.
   ‘The Irish were awful anyway,’ Lady Wolseley said, ‘and their not attending the season should be greeted with relief. The dreary matrons dragging their dreary daughters about the place and dinnering up every possible partner for them. The truth is that no one wants to marry their daughters, no one at all.’ 2004, Colm Tóibín, chapter 2, in The Master, New York: Scribner, page 26