Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A meal at midday, especially in South Asia.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To lunch; take tiffin.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A lunch, or slight repast between breakfast and dinner; -- originally, a Provincial English word, but introduced into India, and brought back to England in a special sense.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A light
midday meal orsnack ;luncheon
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a midday meal
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word tiffin.
Examples
-
Mr. Shinde says the restaurant no longer users the stainless-steel containers of the its namesake — "tiffin" is the container, and "wallah" the delivery guy — but lunch still arrives compartmentalized, and cheap.
-
AS THE menu says, the word tiffin harks back to the 19th century and the days of British rule in India.
-
My M-W#11 says "(1800) chiefly Brit: a light midday meal: LUNCHEON" -- the people in India who deliver lunches to office workers (lunches prepared by their old mamas etc.), aren't they called tiffin wallahs or something Colonel Blimpish like that?
Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2008
-
"General, your tiffin was a beauty, but your Camp -- was very sad!"
The Petticoat Commando Boer Women in Secret Service Johanna Brandt 1920
-
Two minutes later the girls, Ned, and Dick came into the dining-room, and the party sat down to luncheon -- a meal always called tiffin in India.
In Times of Peril 1867
-
"tiffin" -- Burleigh being very Indianized, and a guest always welcome; indeed, so Indianized is it, so populous in jaundiced cheek and ailing livers, that you may openly assert, without fear of being misunderstood
The Complete Prose Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper Martin Farquhar Tupper 1849
-
"tiffin" -- Burleigh being very Indianized, and a guest always welcome; indeed, so Indianized is it, so populous in jaundiced cheek and ailing livers, that you may openly assert, without fear of being misunderstood
The Twins A Domestic Novel Martin Farquhar Tupper 1849
-
- usually stainless steel, aluminum, or tin - called tiffin boxes.
AboutMyPlanet.com 2008
-
A few emails to Indian friends turned up "tiffin" services in Hong Kong.
-
The favorite meal for everyone was tea-time (4pm-6pm) called "tiffin" when we were served tea and a snack.
Archive 2005-08-01 Nupur 2005
ravages commented on the word tiffin
from tiffing. now Indian for a late-afternoon snack
December 16, 2007
ravages commented on the word tiffin
Cadbury's have a brand called tiffins. great chocolates they make.
December 16, 2007
hernesheir commented on the word tiffin
Originally, in England, eating and drinking between meals.
(v.i.): to take tiffin.
January 9, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word tiffin
"Even offering a gentleman caller refreshment was out of the question as it was considered 'an act of glaring impropriety in a lady to invite any gentleman to stay and partake of tiffin who is not either a relative or an intimate friend of the family'."
—Annabel Venning, Following the Drum: The Lives of Army Wives and Daughters Past and Present (London: Headline, 2005), 55–56
May 5, 2010