déjeuner

plural déjeuners · alternative déjeûner · alternative dejeuner

1. countableuncountableThe French midday meal.

   The charges at the Inns along the road are generally, bed 2 fr. [francs], café-au-lait 1 fr., déjeuner and dinner 3 to 4 fr. each.

   1874, A Handbook for Travellers in Algeria. […], London: John Murray, […], page 162, column 1

   5 more examples

   The déjeuner and the villa fête, the water party and the rambling ride, followed each other with the bright rapidity of the final scenes in a Pantomime.

   1831, [Benjamin Disraeli], chapter XIV, in The Young Duke. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book I, page 105

   She had a certain price, from which no earthly consideration would induce her to depart; and certain returns for this price in the shape of déjeuners and dinners, baths and beds, which she never failed to give in accordance with the dictates of a strict conscience. These were traits in the character of an hotel-keeper which cannot be praised too highly, and which had met their due reward in the custom of the public.

   1861, Anthony Trollope, Tales of All Countries, London: Chapman and Hall, […], page 4

   During the summer months the following restaurants offer the advantages of open air gardens and terraces, where déjeuners and dinners are served: […]

   1900, Harper’s Guide to Paris and the Exposition of 1900: Being Practical Suggestions Concerning the Trip from New York to Paris, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, page 60

   A friend of mine, who was at a déjeuner given at the Russian Embassy by the Prince Ouroussoff to the Grand Duc and Grande Duchesse Vladimir, told me that some of the toilettes were beautiful.

   1901, Country Life Illustrated, volume 9, page xx

   “To Chatou,” I said; “we can have déjeuner there and then walk along the avenue beside the river to Croissy and the islands, if yon are not too tired.[…]” […] “I do not wish you to lose them [gloves]; but I know you have very pretty little hands indeed. I noticed them during déjeuner.” […] “Keep some appetite for déjeuner, or you will not be able to touch it.” […] I had not told her about my visit to Briant’s, but when after déjeuner she spoke of sending for a cab so that we might drive to the Paradis, I replied that I had ordered a vehicle, and that it would be at the door at a quarter to two o’clock. […] After a long chat about one thing and another, he kept me to déjeuner, in spite of my protests that I was expected at home. […] Five of us, I think, sat down to déjeuner, served by the official flunkeys.

   1901, [Ernest Alfred Vizetelly], The Lover’s Progress, New York, N.Y.: Brentano’s, pages 261, 273, 313, 325–326, and 354

present singular third person déjeuners · participle present déjeunering · participle past déjeunered · past déjeunered · alternative déjeûner · alternative dejeuner

1. intransitiverareTo have déjeuner.

   I lived like a fighting cock, smoked like a Turk, and drank (coffee) like a fish; I had dined and “déjeunered”; I saw everything and everybody on my route.

   1893 October 21, J. Rowley, “On a Bicycle through Normandy. With the French Army. (Conclusion.)”, in The Liverpool Echo, number 4,354, Liverpool, page 3, column 7

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   I passed stacks of iron ore, piles of rails; heard of lots of forges to the right and left; swept over the Adour at Dax in view of its castle and great church; past Orthez with its immense town of Moncade (little dreaming of the Joys in store for me at its foot), where Gaston Phœbus, Count of Foix, carried his lovely mistress and murdered his own son, and died himself; up the lovely Gare de Pau, and was met at the railroad depot by old Father Bost, to whom I had sent a flying telegram from Monceaux where I déjeunered.

   1863 November 21, Peter Lesley, edited by Mary Lesley Ames, Life and Letters of Peter and Susan Lesley, volume I, New York, N.Y.; London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons; The Knickerbocker Press, published 1909, page 461

   We lunched or dejeûnered with French Admiral also on Monday & M. Chapleau made a most charming & graceful speech in responding, bringing in many allusions to the Admiral’s Chinese experiences at the time of the French war under Admiral Courbet, whose body he afterwards brought back.

   1894 September 19, Lady Aberdeen [i.e., Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair], The Canadian Journal of Lady Aberdeen, 1893-1898 (The Publications of the Champlain Society; XXXVIII), Toronto, Ont.: The Champlain Society, published 1960, page 121

   Well, havin’ “déjeunered,” we set off i’ scramblin fashun to view Chatsworth—abeaut a mile or mooar—under a broilin sun, an’ streeamin’ o’ prespiration, an’ which yoar beaund to reitch befoor a quarter to one o’clock or else yoa connot get through that day.

   1899, Robert Dottie, The Rambles and Recollections of “R’Dick”, Manchester: Albert Sutton, […], page 169

   “Will mademoiselle remain here till I return to the Mont Blanc and find the key which without doubt remains over there, upon the table where we déjeunered?”

   1909, E[dith] Nesbit, Daphne in Fitzroy Street, Toronto, Ont.: The Musson Book Company, Limited, page 174

   By noon the fat, perspiring, and importantly busy merchant arrives, overweighted with red blood, fat, and responsibility, for a game of manille or dominoes with three or four old cronies. They déjeuner together; and you may be sure they eat heartily.

   1916, F[rank] Berkeley Smith, Babette: A Novel, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, page 240