meatless

What it means

1. not comparableWithout meat.

   A meatless day or a beerless or tealess day does not suggest moderation so much as immoderation.

   1916, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art

   2 more examples

   Are we to understand from paragraph 1 (c) that [the residents of Malta] are entirely meatless? or have they cattle they can kill, and if so how many?

   1942, Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate, vol. 4 of The Second World War (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1950), p. 300. [Memo from Prime Minister Churchill to General Ismay dated April 3, 1942]

   “Eating more plants and going meatless is a good way to preserve your health,” said Dr. Robert Graham, who is board certified in both internal and integrative medicine. […] Some fun meatless recipes include jackfruit sandwiches in place of pulled pork; black bean meatless balls or eggplant and shiitake “meatballs.”

   2020 May 19, Lisa Drayer, “How to eat less meat and more plants”, in CNN

   Synonyms: unmeated, dry · Antonyms: meatful

In a sentence

A meatless day or a beerless or tealess day does not suggest moderation so much as immoderation.

1916, The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art

Where it comes from

1. Old Englishmetelēas“foodless”
2. Middle Englishmeteles
3. Englishmeatless

From Middle English meteles, from Old English metelēas (“foodless”), equivalent to meat + -less.