Meanings
- humorousnot comparableAt a desk (typically used of eating).
Lunches usually consist of cold sandwiches consumed al desko.
1981 January 30, Stephanie Mansfield, “The Last Memo”, in The Washington Post3 more examples
The number of folks who have taken to dining al desko is causing some new problems in the workplace.
1994 March 29, “Workers Are Increasingly In To Lunch”, in Philadelphia Daily NewsA recent study published in a British daily claimed that dining ‘al desko’ was fast becoming the new norm for office workers.
2004 November 12, Alex Elgar, “Dining 'Al desko'”, in The CB FridayWe need to encourage our children to ask the child sitting alone at lunch whether they'd like company, and we need to do the same for that work colleague who always eats their lunch alone al desko, even when we'd rather dine on our own.
2020, Noreena Hertz, chapter 11, in The Lonely Century, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN
Origin
Cite this entry
al desko. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/al%20desko
“al desko.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/al%20desko. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “al desko,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/al%20desko.
Source: al desko on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.