BREAKFAST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does breakfast mean? 

• BREAKFAST (noun)
  The noun BREAKFAST has 1 sense:

1. the first meal of the day (usually in the morning)

  Familiarity information: BREAKFAST used as a noun is very rare.

• BREAKFAST (verb)
  The verb BREAKFAST has 2 senses:

1. eat an early morning meal

2. provide breakfast for

  Familiarity information: BREAKFAST used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BREAKFAST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The first meal of the day (usually in the morning)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("breakfast" is a kind of...):

meal; repast (the food served and eaten at one time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "breakfast"):

continental breakfast; petit dejeuner (a breakfast that usually includes a roll and coffee or tea)

power breakfast (a meeting of influential people to conduct business while eating breakfast)

Derivation:

breakfast (eat an early morning meal)

breakfast (provide breakfast for)

• BREAKFAST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they breakfast    ... he / she / it breakfasts   
Past simple: breakfasted   
Past participle: breakfasted   
-ing form: breakfasting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Eat an early morning meal

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

We breakfast at seven

Hypernyms (to "breakfast" is one way to...):

eat (eat a meal; take a meal)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue breakfast

Derivation:

breakfast (the first meal of the day (usually in the morning))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Provide breakfast for

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "breakfast" is one way to...):

feed; give (give food to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

breakfast (the first meal of the day (usually in the morning))

 Context examples 

The breakfast was a success, and we sat about the fire much longer than enterprising explorers should have done, sipping the hot black coffee and talking over our situation.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I will strengthen me with breakfast, and then I will to my terrible work.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The bride, who had fortunately entered the house before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and retired to her room.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Dear me,” said he, “it was only this moment at breakfast that I was saying to my friend, Dr. Watson, that sensational cases had disappeared out of our papers.”

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the evening he caught three more minnows, eating two and saving the third for breakfast.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I thought of my breakfast then, and what had sounded like “My Charley!” but I was, I am glad to remember, as mute as a mouse about it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But Bill was stubborn, and he ate a dry breakfast washed down with mumbled curses at One Ear for the trick he had played.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

At a certain time each morning the cooks turned out, fires were built, and breakfast was eaten.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

In contrast, the insulin levels of those who ate breakfast first were no better than the control group.

(Exercise before Breakfast Burns More Fat, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

To be done prior to eating breakfast.

(Before Breakfast, NCI Thesaurus)