different between meat vs meats

English

Etymology

From Middle English mete, from Old English mete (“meat, food”), from Proto-West Germanic *mati, from Proto-Germanic *matiz (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh?d- (“to drip, ooze; grease, fat”). Cognate with West Frisian mete, Old Saxon meti, Old High German maz (“food”), Icelandic matr, Gothic ???????????????? (mats).

A -ja- derivation from the same base is found in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German met (“lean pork”), from which latter German Mett (“minced meat”). Compare also Old Irish mess (“animal feed”) and Welsh mes (“acorns”), English mast (“fodder for swine and other animals”), which are probably from the same root.

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?t, IPA^(key): /mi?t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mit/
• Rhymes: -i?t
• Homophones: meet, mete

Noun

meat (countable and uncountable, plural meats)

1. (uncountable) The flesh (muscle tissue) of an animal used as food. [from 14th c.]
2. (countable) A type of meat, by anatomic position and provenance. [from 16th c.]

3. (now archaic, dialectal) Food, for animals or humans, especially solid food. See also meat and drink. [from 8th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew, XXV:

     I was anhongred, and ye gave me meate. I thursted, and ye gave me drinke.

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens:

     Your greatest want is, you want much of meat: / Why should you want? Behold, the Earth hath Rootes […].

   • 1879, Silas Hocking, Her Benny

     As full of fun and frolic as an egg is full of meat.

   • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, 2007, p.13:

     The way she said ‘dinner’ and the way she said ‘champagne’ gave meat and liquid their exact difference […].

4. (now rare) A type of food, a dish. [from 9th c.]
5. (archaic) A meal. [from 9th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew, ch. 8:

     And hit cam to passe, thatt Jesus satt at meate in his housse.

6. (obsolete) Meal; flour.
7. (uncountable) Any relatively thick, solid part of a fruit, nut etc. [from 15th c.]
   • 1954, Cothburn O'Neal, The Dark Lady (page 12)

     She took her spoon and stirred the melted butter into the yellow meat of the yam.

8. (slang) A penis. [from 16th c.]
   • 1993, Nancy Friday, Women on top: how real life has changed women's sexual fantasies, page 538

     He sits me on the floor (the shower is still beating down on us). He lays me down and slides his huge meat into me.

   • 2006 John Patrick, Play Hard, Score Big, page 54

     Just the tight, hot caress of his bowels surrounding my meat gave me pleasures I had only dreamed of before that day.

   • 2011, Wade Wright, Two Straight Guys, page 41

     Both men were completely, and very actively into this face fucking! Suddenly Bill pulled off of Jim's meat and said,

9. (colloquial) The best or most substantial part of something. [from 16th c.]
   • 1577, Gerald Eades Bentley, The Arte of Angling

     […] it is time to begin "A Dialogue between Viator and Piscator," which is the meat of the matter.

10. (sports) The sweet spot of a bat or club (in cricket, golf, baseball etc.). [from 20th c.]

11. (slang) A meathead.

12. (Australian Aboriginal) A totem, or (by metonymy) a clan or clansman which uses it.
    • 1949, Oceania, Vol.XX

      When a stranger comes to an aboriginal camp or settlement in north-western NSW, he is asked by one of the older aborigines: "What meat (clan) are you?"

    • 1973, M. Fennel & A. Grey, Nucoorilma

      Granny Sullivan was ‘dead against’ the match at first because they did not know "what my meat was and because I was a bit on the fair side."

    • 1993, J. Janson, Gunjies

      That’s a beautiful goanna. […]. He’s my meat, can’t eat him.

Usage notes

• The meaning "flesh of an animal used as food" is often understood to exclude fish and other seafood. For example, the rules for abstaining from meat in the Roman Catholic Church do not extend to fish; likewise, some people who consider themselves vegetarians also eat fish (though the more precise term for such a person is pescetarian).
• Traditionally, this meaning sometimes also excluded poultry.

Synonyms

• (animal flesh used as food): flesh; See also Thesaurus:meat
• (penis): see Thesaurus:penis
• (best or most substantial part of something): crux, gist; See also Thesaurus:gist

Antonyms

• drink

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: meti

Translations

Anagrams

• AEMT, ATEM, Atem, META, Meta, Tame, Team, Tema, mate, maté, meta, meta-, tame, team

Latin

Verb

meat

1. third-person singular present active indicative of me?

Romanian

Etymology

From French méat, from Latin meatus.

Noun

meat n (plural meaturi)

1. meatus

Declension

English

Noun

meats

1. plural of meat

Anagrams

• AEMTs, MTase, Mesta, STEAM, Satem, a-stem, mates, matse, matés, metas, satem, stame, steam, tames, teams