elevenses

1 8.7

A light snack or drink people have around eleven in the morning, often in Britain

noun
/ɪˈlɛvənzɪz/

: tentempié

At 11 AM, we always take a break for elevenses with tea and biscuits.

Examples

My grandmother insists on having elevenses every day, complete with scones and jam.
Many British workers enjoy elevenses to recharge during their morning shifts.
To celebrate, we'll be having Elevenses (the third meal of the day for hobbits).

Blog text (23)

Synonyms

bever

vselevenses

Archaic

1 9.9

A small snack or drink taken between regular meals

is a light snack or drink taken around eleven in the morning

How Filling

to lunch

27 1.0

snack

440 1.0

elevenses

1 8.7

bite

367 1.0

Surface Forms

elevenses plural

Morphology

elevenses = eleven (transparent) = eleven + s

Formed directly from the time word 'eleven' with a plural/collective '-s' marking a small meal at that hour, a formation that learners can readily interpret.

Etymology

Elevenses comes from the number eleven and was created to name a small break at that time. So elevenses means a light 'mid-morning' snack or drink around 'eleven o'clock', especially in Britain.