lunch pail

noun

A lunchbox (food container) shaped more or less like a bucket with a handle.

Meanings

nounlunch pail (plural lunch pails)

plural lunch pails · alternative lunchpail

  1. USA lunchbox (food container) shaped more or less like a bucket with a handle.

    Synonyms: lunch bucket

  2. USfigurativelySomeone doing work that needs to be done in an unpretentious, down-to-earth manner; (originally) a blue-collar worker.
    1 more example

    The work of making this world resemble one that you would prefer to live in is a lunch pail fucking job, day in and day out, where thousands of committed, anonymous, smart and dedicated people bang on closed doors and pick up those that are fallen and grind away on issues till they get a positive result.

    2024 February 12, Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA lunchbox (food container) shaped more or less like a bucket with a handle.

Also see

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

lunch pail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lunch%20pail

MLA

“lunch pail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lunch%20pail. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lunch pail,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lunch%20pail.

Source: lunch pail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.