supper

plural suppers

1. countableuncountableAn optional light meal consumed shortly before going to bed.

   There he stood, with admirable patience, […] longing to go to rest for hours past; aware that suppers disagreed with him […] so tired and longing for bed!

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 46, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

   Synonyms: dinner

2. Atlantic CanadaBostonCanadian PrairiesMidwestern USSouth AfricacountableuncountableAny meal eaten in the evening; dinner eaten in the evening, rather than at noon.

   We normally have supper at 7.

3. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandcountableslanguncountableA meal from a chip shop consisting of a deep-fried food with chips.

   a fish supper

   1 more example

   Roisin the savior paraded into the front room with three fish suppers, one sausage supper, one single fish, one single chips, a single sausage, a chicken and chips, and three curry and chips.

   2014, Gerald Hansen, An Embarrassment of Riches

present singular third person suppers · participle present suppering · participle past suppered · past suppered

1. intransitiveTo consume a snack before going to bed.
2. intransitiveTo eat dinner.

   Synonyms: dine, dinner

3. transitiveTo provide (a person or animal) with supper.

   My birthday was a “Fourth of July” from early a. m., when your sweet gift greeted me, till 2 a. m., when “The Players” “suppered” me gorgeously.

   1889 November 15, Edwin Booth, “Letters to His Daughter”, in Edwin Booth: Recollections by His Daughter, Edwina Booth Grossman, and Letters to Her and to His Friends, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., published 1894, page 101

   5 more examples

   Horns in the night-season are heard a great way off, and in the winter-season were blown at every farmer’s house about eight at night when they suppered the horses and cows; […]

   1815, “Supplement to Volume LXXXV. Part I. […]”, in The Gentleman’s Magazine: and Historical Chronicle. […], London: […] [John] Nichols, Son, and [Samuel] Bentley, […], page 581, column 1

   I went to supper up my horses, and heard somebody; […] After suppering the horses, I went into the house, and saw Stacey, who asked me if I had suppered the horses.

   1828, John White, quotee, Trial of William Dyon, and His Son, John Dyon, for the Wilful Murder of Their Relative, Mr. John Dyon, […], Doncaster: Brooke & Co. […]; C. & J. White, […], page 15

   Foreigners, and deaf-mutes especially, who are not familiar with what we call “good usage,” frequently fall into ludicrous mistakes in framing sentences out of the elements that have been given them. One writes: […] “My friend suppered me” instead of gave me supper. Such expressions are according to rule, and appear singular only because they have not come into general use.

   1876 July, J[ohn] H[ancock] Pettingell, “English Verbs”, in Edward A[llen] Fay, editor, American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb, volume XXI, number 3, Washington, D.C.: […] Gibson Brothers, page 156

   It was Friday when this idea suggested itself to my mind, and, so soon as I had suppered the horses, I dashed into the wood, disturbing pheasants right and left, and forcing the lively rabbits, out for the evening’s sports, to beat a hasty retreat!

   1883, John Menzies, Reminiscences of an Old Soldier, Edinburgh: […] Crawford & M‘Cabe […], page 4

   In his new employment it was agreed that David should be allowed to go on winter nights at eight o’clock, after he had suppered the horses, to a night school at a place called Millwell, perhaps about three miles or so distant, to take lessons in arithmetic.

   1891, Thomas R[oscoe] R[ede] Stebbing, “The Loom and the Quarry—Farm-Work and Self-Education”, in The Naturalist of Cumbrae: A True Story, Being the Life of David Robertson, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltᵈ, page 66

plural suppers

1. A drinker, especially one who drinks slowly (i.e., one who sups).