any of the occasions for eating food that occur by custom or habit at more or less fixed times
"We usually have our main meal together as a family around six o'clock in the evening."
coarsely ground foodstuff; especially seeds of various cereal grasses or pulse
"The ancient farmer stored his winter supplies in a large sack, knowing that the meal would feed both his family and his flock through the cold season."
Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity (as opposed to a snack).
"After years of neglect, a tiny gray meal appeared on the old wooden table where we used to eat dinner."
The coarse-ground edible part of various grains often used to feed animals; flour or a coarser blend than flour.
A speck or spot.
In plain English: A meal is a main time when you eat food during the day.
"We usually have three meals a day."
Usage: Use meal to refer to food eaten at specific times during the day, not to confuse it with the word mael, which means a storm, or the archaic term meel for a speck. The common mistake of defining meal as a speck is incorrect; that definition belongs to no standard English word and likely stems from a misunderstanding or typo.
To yield or be plentiful in meal.
"The old man warned that touching the sacred offering would not just break a rule, but truly defile and taint the entire ritual."
To defile or taint.
In plain English: To meal means to eat food, though it is rarely used this way in everyday conversation.
"The chef will meal the ingredients right before serving them to the guests."
Usage: The verb form of meal means to ruin or contaminate something with impurities, though this usage is rare in modern English and often replaced by words like spoil or pollute. You will most frequently encounter the word as a noun referring to food rather than as an action verb.
The word "meal" comes from Old English, where it originally meant a measure or a specific time. Its root meaning relates to measuring, which evolved to refer to the occasion for eating.