DINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dine mean? 

• DINE (verb)
  The verb DINE has 2 senses:

1. have supper; eat dinner

2. give dinner to; host for dinner

  Familiarity information: DINE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DINE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dine    ... he / she / it dines   
Past simple: dined   
Past participle: dined   
-ing form: dining   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have supper; eat dinner

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

We often dine with friends in this restaurant

Hypernyms (to "dine" is one way to...):

eat (eat a meal; take a meal)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue dine

Also:

dine in (eat at home)

dine out (eat at a restaurant or at somebody else's home)

Derivation:

diner (a restaurant that resembles a dining car)

diner (a passenger car where food is served in transit)

diner (a person eating a meal (especially in a restaurant))

dining (the act of eating dinner)

dinner (the main meal of the day served in the evening or at midday)

dinner (a party of people assembled to have dinner together)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give dinner to; host for dinner

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

I'm wining and dining my friends

Hypernyms (to "dine" is one way to...):

feed; give (give food to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

diner (a restaurant that resembles a dining car)

diner (a passenger car where food is served in transit)

dinner (the main meal of the day served in the evening or at midday)

dinner (a party of people assembled to have dinner together)

 Context examples 

There are many odd things to put down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But, in the end, a compromise was effected; and Mrs. Crupp consented to achieve this feat, on condition that I dined from home for a fortnight afterwards.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

To-morrow, I think, my uncle dines at Sotherton, and you and Mr. Bertram too.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

We shall drive directly to Clifton and dine there; and, as soon as dinner is over, if there is time for it, go on to Kingsweston.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Dining once with the Coles—and having a ball talked of, which never took place.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Such a happy procession as filed away into the little dining room!

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Yes, and Miss Atkinson, who dined with him once at the Wallises, says he is the most agreeable man she ever was in company with.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

We passed through several towns, and in one, a very large one, the coach stopped; the horses were taken out, and the passengers alighted to dine.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She danced four dances with him at Meryton; she saw him one morning at his own house, and has since dined with him in company four times.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

You’ll dine with us, Lestrade, and then you are welcome to the sofa until it is time for us to start.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)