Meanings
plural kitchen suppers
- datedThe evening meal for servants, separate from the family's meal.
The cook prided herself on making the kitchen supper as delicious as the family's dinner.
- An informal or semiformal meal served for guests, not necessarily one served in the kitchen.
The couple threw an impromptu kitchen supper when the dinner reservations fell through.
Origin
From kitchen + supper. Original use from kitchen as a synecdoche for a household's servants. Later from the idea that the hosts forgo the dining room for the more private and relaxed kitchen.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
kitchen supper. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kitchen%20supper
“kitchen supper.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kitchen%20supper. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kitchen supper,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kitchen%20supper.
Source: kitchen supper on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.