SUPPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does supper mean? 

• SUPPER (noun)
  The noun SUPPER has 2 senses:

1. a light evening meal; served in early evening if dinner is at midday or served late in the evening at bedtime

2. a social gathering where a light evening meal is served

  Familiarity information: SUPPER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUPPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A light evening meal; served in early evening if dinner is at midday or served late in the evening at bedtime

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("supper" is a kind of...):

meal; repast (the food served and eaten at one time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "supper"):

Passover supper; Seder ((Judaism) the ceremonial dinner on the first night (or both nights) of Passover)

Derivation:

sup (take solid or liquid food into the mouth a little at a time either by drinking or by eating with a spoon)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A social gathering where a light evening meal is served

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

her suppers often included celebrities

Hypernyms ("supper" is a kind of...):

social affair; social gathering (a gathering for the purpose of promoting fellowship)

Derivation:

sup (take solid or liquid food into the mouth a little at a time either by drinking or by eating with a spoon)

 Context examples 

I found supper already laid out.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Here a bell, ringing the hour of supper, called me downstairs.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“It’s a shame, after working hard all day, that we cannot have an uninterrupted night’s sleep,” I complained, after supper.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He fed the dogs, cooked and ate his supper, and made his bed close to the fire.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It was such a wonderful thing, at first, to have her coming softly down to talk to me as I ate my supper.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Lady Bertram was not certain of anybody's dress or anybody's place at supper but her own.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“I had hoped,” suggested Holmes, “that you would have joined us in a friendly supper.”

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

I'm satisfied, so please take the money and let's have supper.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was worth a stolen supper to bring two such men together.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Perhaps that is his supper which you are carrying to him.

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