Meanings
- UKinformaluncountableusuallyA short mid-morning break taken around eleven o'clock for a drink or light snack.
Betjeman, who was a bit of a gricer, wrote: "I know of no greater pleasure for elevenses in London than to sit in this tea place and watch the trains arrive and depart."
2021 January 13, Christian Wolmar, “Read all about London's Cathedrals of Steam”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 633 more examples
The harvestmen who board in the farm-houses fare sumptuously during the month of harvest.— […] at eleven o'clock in the morning, and four in the afternoon, they have each a large light plum-bun, with a pint of ale a piece, carried into the field, to encourage them to work cheerfully. These extra refreshments they call, in their provincial language, their "elevenses" and "fourses." I could not at first imagine what the servants meant by talking of carrying the harvestmen their elevenses and fourses, till Mrs. Henley explained that it was a vulgar abbreviation of the four-o'clock and eleven o'clock meals.
1837 February, Anna Lee, “The Pinch of Salt”, in The Ladies’ Companion: A Monthly Magazine, Embracing Literature and the Arts, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: Published by William W. Snowdon, →OCLC, page 162, column 2"In Europe," said Ghosh Babu who read a great deal, "they all stop work at eleven to have tea or coffee or cocoa, or some stronger beverage; they call it elevenses." / […] ["]Ghosh Babu, how long time they get for elevenses?" / "About half-an-hour," replied Ghosh with authority. […] / "We get no time off for elevenses," complained Sambamurthy. "We should bring it up before the Clerks' Association."
1989, Khushwant Singh, “Man, How the Government of India Run!”, in The Collected Short Stories of Khushwant Singh, New Delhi: Ravi Dayal Publisher, →ISBN, page 96; republished as “Book Extract: They also Serve …”, in Sunday, volume 18, number 4, Calcutta: Ananda Bazar Patrika, 2 January – 2 February 1991, →OCLC, pages 75–76Even in these tough economic times when many employers seem hell-bent on sucking any and all vestiges of pleasure out of the daily existence of the average working stiff, some things remain sacrosanct. Chief among them is the partaking of elevenses. Even if we spend the majority of our lives glued to a desk, staring at a computer screen or in meetings pretending we care about the interpretation of a spreadsheet, the break for a hot drink and a little snackette between breakfast and lunch is a covenant between Britain and God.
2010, Simon Majumdar, “Elevenses”, in Eating for Britain: A Journey into the Heart (and Belly) of the Nation, London: John Murray, →ISBNSynonyms: elevensies
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA short mid-morning break taken around eleven o'clock for a drink or light snack.
Origin
From dialectal elevens (“the eleven-o'clock meal”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 上午茶
- 上午茶 (shàngwǔchá)short mid-morning break
Czech přesnídávka
- přesnídávkashort mid-morning break
Esperanto kolaziono
- kolazionoshort mid-morning break
Greek διάλειμμα, δεκατιανό
- διάλειμμα (diáleimma)short mid-morning break
- δεκατιανό (dekatianó)short mid-morning break
Hebrew ארוחת עשר
- ארוחת עשרshort mid-morning break
Japanese イレブンシス
- イレブンシスshort mid-morning break
Malay minum pukul sebelas pagi
- minum pukul sebelas pagishort mid-morning break
Polish drugie śniadanie
- drugie śniadanieshort mid-morning break
Russian второй завтрак
- второй завтрак (vtoroj zavtrak)short mid-morning break
Slovak desiatka
- desiatkashort mid-morning break
Spanish las once, once
- las onceshort mid-morning break
- onceshort mid-morning break
Cite this entry
elevenses. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elevenses
“elevenses.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elevenses. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “elevenses,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elevenses.
Source: elevenses on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.