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Glite Dictionary
tinned meat

tinned meat

1.9
Meat kept in a metal can to last a long time
  • noun
  • /tɪnd miːt/
  • UK
translation icon : carne enlatada
  • Keep cupboards stocked with tinned meat, fish, beans, eggs, UHT milk, fruit juice, tinned fruit, soups, and instant puddings.

Examples

  • During the emergency, we relied on tinned meat as a primary source of food since it doesn’t spoil easily.

  • Swimming in whisky from the sergeants' club, my taste buds ruined by too much tea and tinned meat, moronized by meteorology, tired, tired, tired, I ask that you make me, when I come home, if I come home, a big bowl of salad with fresh mint and green olive oil, and a cup of real coffee.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The cans of beer are in a stall with dried beans, mustard, biscuits, honey bread, and tinned meats.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • For long camping trips, we always pack some tinned meat to ensure we have enough protein.

  • The store was running low on groceries, but they still had plenty of tinned meat on the shelves.

Synonyms

canned meat
vstinned meat
  • US
1 1.8

Meat kept in a sealed can to last a long time

is the same but uses an adjective form tied to tin rather than can

Surface Forms

tinned meat singular
tinned meats plural

Morphology

tinned + meat

The meaning 'meat preserved and sealed in a tin or can' is directly and compositionally derived from 'tinned' (preserved in a sealed container) + 'meat' (animal flesh). This adjective+noun pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent (cf. 'canned meat', Spanish 'carne enlatada', French 'viande en conserve'), so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

Tinned meat comes from the simple idea of putting cooked meat into a metal tin or can and sealing it so it would not go bad. Picture a closed tin that keeps the meat safe on long journeys or in an emergency. That's why it means 'meat preserved in a can' today.