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lunch period

lunch period

4 1.0
A regular time during the day for eating lunch at school or work
  • noun
  • /lʌntʃ ˈpɪrɪəd/
translation icon : hora del almuerzo
  • During the lunch period, students gathered in the cafeteria to enjoy their meals together.
  • minutes after their lunch period
  • during lunch period

I mean, these are words that you hear on the junior high, like recess after lunch period.

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Examples

  • At the end of each lunch period, students empty out any excess milk and drop their cartons into a special box.

    Academic text (1994)
  • We talked for the whole lunch period.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • In the past, the library was not open before or after school or during the entire lunch period.

    Academic text (2011)
  • But you guys have different lunch periods.

  • Kendra was in three of my classes, and we had the same lunch period.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • A few days ago, I started spending my lunch period in the library, which was one of the best decisions I have made in a while.

    Academic text (2015)
  • I had a great lunch group last year because all of the teachers who shared my lunch period ate in the lunchroom.

    Academic text (2004)
  • During the thirty-minute lunch period, we "circled up" in a classroom and reacted to the book we had read before the meeting.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The class met for a one-hour period daily, with a 25-minute lunch period separating two 30-minute sessions.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Narrator 1: Melanie, Denise, and Sonia are sitting in the cafeteria during their lunch period.

    Fiction book (2002)

Synonyms

lunchtime
vslunch period
75 1.0

The usual time of day when people eat lunch

is the designated time at schools or workplaces set aside for that meal
mealtime
vslunch period
11 1.0

The time when people usually eat a meal

is limited to a specific midday slot often scheduled in schools or workplaces

How Long

lunch period
4 1.0
lunchtime
75 1.0
break
1.0

Surface Forms

lunch period singular
lunch periods plural

Morphology

lunch + period

The meaning is directly compositional: 'lunch' (a midday meal) combined with 'period' (a measured interval) yields a designated time for eating lunch. This noun+noun/time-composition pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Lunch period is a compound noun from schools and workplaces where the day is split into short time blocks called periods. One of those blocks is for your lunch, so the phrase means the set time when people stop work or class to 'eat lunch'.