† ˈundermeal Obs.
Forms: 1 undernmæl, 4–5 vnder-, undermele (5 -mel), 6–7 vndermeale.
[OE. undernmǽl: see undern n. and meal n.2]
1. The time of undern; in later use esp. the early part of the afternoon. Also attrib.
| Beowulf 1428 Ᵹesawon..on næshleoðum nicras licgean, ða on undernmæl oft bewitiᵹað sorhfulne sið. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives xxx. 319 Þa an undern-mæl spræcon hi betwux him þær-inne. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. 875 Ther walketh now the lymytour hym self In vndermeles and in morwenynges. c 1400 Trevisa's Higden V. 373 Rosamunda in an undermele tyde [L. meridiano tempore] bonde..faste þe kynges swerd þat was on slepe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 511/1 Vndermele, postmeridies, postmesimbria. |
b. An afternoon nap; a siesta. Also attrib.
| 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 9044 To leyn hym sofftely On Fether beddys, mad ful wel, For to slepe hys vndermel. 1589 Nashe Greene's Menaphon Pref. (Arb.) 15 The blacke pot; which makes our Poets vndermeale Muses so mutinous, as euerie stanzo they pen after dinner, is full poynted with a stabbe. 1599 ― Lenten Stuffe Ep. Ded., Hee hath dinde at a tauerne, and slept his vnder-meale at a bawdy house. Ibid. 11 The forty yeares vndermeale of the seauen sleepers. |
2. An afternoon meal.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 511/1 Vndermele,..merarium. 1530 Palsgr. 285/2 Under mele, ressigner. 1586 Withals' Dict. (1599) 57/2 Another greater supper or vndermeale was made redie for them. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair iv. ii, I thinke I am furnish'd for Catherne peares, for one vnder-meale. |