dairy lunch

plural dairy lunches

1. UShistoricalAn establishment serving light, ready-made food and drink, such as sandwiches, soup, and donuts. Mostly limited to early 20th century US.

   He wolfed down a sandwich and coffee from the dairy lunch across the street before hurrying back to work.

   1 more example

   A newspaper man ran across the street the other day to a dairy lunch. He was in a hurry. He leaned against the marble counter and ordered a lamb stew.

   1916 March 11, “Sense and Nonsense”, in Saturday Evening Post