Dinner

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

Dinner ( ἄριστον,  Matthew 22:4,  Luke 11:38 [(Revised Version margin) ‘ breakfast ’]  Luke 14:12).—In the East there is no meal properly corresponding to our breakfast. Even the guest is allowed to depart in the morning without ‘bite or sup.’ Eating and drinking early in the day are held to be marks of effeminacy and self-indulgence, and are regarded as bad for the system. Many, especially when on a journey, are content with one meal in the twenty-four hours, taken after sunset. In general, however, a light meal is eaten about the middle of the day, consisting of bread, olives, fruit, leben (sour curded milk), cheese, etc.; but the principal meal is in the evening. Eating at other times is quite casual and informal. It is probably correct to say that in NT ἄριστον and δεῖπνον correspond respectively to our luncheon and dinner. See, further, art. Meals.

W. Ewing.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. aruchah, 'allowance.' Any meal of herbs where there is love is better than a stalled ox with hatred.  Proverbs 15:17 .

2. akal, 'to eat.' Joseph's brethren were 'to eat' with him at noon.  Genesis 43:16 .

3. ἄριστονa meal taken in the morning: cf.  John 21:4,12,15; but late enough for friends to be invited.  Luke 11:37,38 . Used for a marriage feast in  Matthew 22:2,4 , perhaps as late as noon: it is distinguished from 'supper' in  Luke 14:12 .

King James Dictionary

DINNER, n. See Dine.

1. The meal taken about the middle of the day or the principal meal of the day, eaten between noon and evening. 2. An entertainment a feast.

Behold, I have prepared my dinner.  Matthew 22 .

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) The principal meal of the day, eaten by most people about midday, but by many (especially in cities) at a later hour.

(2): ( n.) An entertainment; a feast.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The early meal, generally at 11 o'clock, as "supper" was the later meal, and that to which friends were asked as to a feast ( Luke 14:12).

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

DINNER . See Meals, § 2 .

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

din´ẽr ( ἄριστον , áriston  ;  Matthew 22:4;  Luke 11:38 (the Revised Version, margin "breakfast");   Luke 14:12; compare Rth 2:14;  John 21:13 ): In oriental as in classical lands it was customary, in ancient times, as now, to have but two meals in the day, and the evidence, including that of Josephus, goes to show that the second or evening meal was the principal one. The "morning morsel," as the Talmud calls it, was in no sense a "meal." The peasant or artisan, before beginning work, might "break (his) fast" ( John 21:12 ,  John 21:15 ) by taking a bit of barley bread with some simple relish, but to "eat (a full meal) in the morning" was a reproach ( Ecclesiastes 10:16 ). The full meal was not to be taken until a little before or after sunset, when the laborers had come in from their work ( Luke 17:7; compare the "supper time" of  Luke 14:17 ). The noon meal, taken at an hour when climatic conditions called for rest from exertion (the ariston of the Greeks, rendered "dinner" in English Versions of the Bible,  Matthew 22:4;  Luke 11:38 , the Revised Version, margin "breakfast"), was generally very simple, of bread soaked in light wine with a handful of parched corn (Rth 2:14), or of "pottage and bread broken into a bowl" (Bel and the Dragon 33), or of bread and broiled fish ( John 21:13 ). Many, when on journey especi content with one meal a day, taken after sunset. In general, eating at other times is casual and informal; evening is the time for the formal meal, or feast. See Meals .