Meat (?), n. [OE. mete, AS. mete; akin to OS. mat, meti, D. met hashed meat, G. mettwurst sausage, OHG. maz food, Icel. matr, Sw. mat, Dan. mad, Goth. mats. Cf. Mast fruit, Mush.]
1.
Food, in general; anything eaten for nourishment, either by man or beast. Hence, the edible part of anything; as, the meat of a lobster, a nut, or an egg.
Chaucer.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, . . . to you it shall be for meat.
Gen. i. 29.
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you.
Gen. ix. 3.
2.
The flesh of animals used as food; esp., animal muscle; as, a breakfast of bread and fruit without meat.
3.
Specifically, dinner; the chief meal.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
Meat biscuit. See under Biscuit. -- Meat earth Mining, vegetable mold. Raymond. -- Meat fly. Zool. See Flesh fly, under Flesh. -- Meat offering Script., an offering of food, esp. of a cake made of flour with salt and oil. -- To go to meat, to go to a meal. [Obs.] -- To sit at meat, to sit at the table in taking food.
© Webster 1913.
Meat, v. t.
To supply with food.
[Obs.]
Tusser.
His shield well lined, his horses meated well.
Chapman.
© Webster 1913.