tiffin
1
9.1
- noun
- /ˈtɪfɪn/
- UK
:
tiffin
- I can scarcely eat my tiffin for delight in the enchanting, pathetic beauty, the passionate grace and sadness of the face of the lad who brings me butter in a lordly dish, the yellow rolls laid upon banana leaves, and serves me curry with a spoon made of a big pink shell.
- tiffin carrier
Examples
-
His tiffin carrier was snugly placed at the back of the seat.
Blog text (30) -
- So why don't we just go sniff out a spot of tiffin--
-
And when it was time to eat, we would pull over again at some rest stop and pull out a nine-course Indian meal from a bunch of tiffins when all I really wanted was McDonald's to begin with.
-
Pushpa and Molly Verghese would draw up a schedule behind her back, and their maids would show up at the kitchen door bearing tiffin-carriers of steaming food.
Fiction book (2002) -
Moorthy kept vigil in the waiting room, hugging a tiffin-carrier filled with sweets for distribution to the hospital staff, although he had been expressly told to do no such thing.
Fiction book (2002) -
For tiffin, we decided to meet at the park and share some delicious samosas.
-
She packed a variety of sandwiches and fruit for our afternoon tiffin at the beach.
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Every day at noon, the teachers would gather for a quick tiffin in the staff room.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A meal in the middle of the day
76
4.3
A formal meal eaten in the middle of the day
1
9.9
A light meal you eat around noon, like lunch
A light meal eaten between main meals
How Filling
Surface Forms
Etymology
Tiffin comes from British India and originally meant a small drink or light snack; one popular story says it grew from the old English word tiff meaning 'a small sip'. That's why tiffin today usually means a light midday meal or packed 'lunch', especially in South Asia.