supper

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An optional light meal consumed shortly before going to bed.

   “There he stood, with admirable patience, […] longing to go to rest for hours past; aware that suppers disagreed with him […] so tired and longing for bed!”

2. (Atlantic-Canada, Canadian-Prairies, Midwestern-US, South-Africa, countable, uncountable)Any meal eaten in the evening; dinner eaten in the evening, rather than at noon.

   “We normally have supper at 7.”

3. (Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland, countable, slang, uncountable)A meal from a chip shop consisting of a deep-fried food with chips.

   “a fish supper”

   “Roisin the savior paraded into the front room with three fish suppers, one sausage supper, one single fish, one single chips, a single sausage, a chicken and chips, and three curry and chips.”

4. A drinker, especially one who drinks slowly (i.e., one who sups).

verb

1. (intransitive)To consume a snack before going to bed.
2. (intransitive)To eat dinner.
3. (transitive)To provide (a person or animal) with supper.

   “Horns in the night-season are heard a great way off, and in the winter-season were blown at every farmer’s house about eight at night when they suppered the horses and cows; […]”

   “I went to supper up my horses, and heard somebody; […] After suppering the horses, I went into the house, and saw Stacey, who asked me if I had suppered the horses.”

   “Foreigners, and deaf-mutes especially, who are not familiar with what we call “good usage,” frequently fall into ludicrous mistakes in framing sentences out of the elements that have been given them. One writes: […] “My friend suppered me” instead of gave me supper. Such expressions are according to rule, and appear singular only because they have not come into general use.”

   “It was Friday when this idea suggested itself to my mind, and, so soon as I had suppered the horses, I dashed into the wood, disturbing pheasants right and left, and forcing the lively rabbits, out for the evening’s sports, to beat a hasty retreat!”

   “My birthday was a “Fourth of July” from early a. m., when your sweet gift greeted me, till 2 a. m., when “The Players” “suppered” me gorgeously.”