viand
Americannoun
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an article of food.
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viands, articles or dishes of food, now usually of a choice or delicate kind.
noun
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a type of food, esp a delicacy
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(plural) provisions
Etymology
Origin of viand
1350–1400; Middle English viaunde < Middle French viande < Vulgar Latin *vīvanda, for Latin vīvenda things to be lived on, neuter plural gerund of vīvere to live
Explanation
A viand is something really delicious. The grilled cheese sandwich at the diner near your house that’s better than any other grilled cheese sandwich in a 400 mile radius? That’s a viand. Viand comes from the Old French word viande, meaning “food.” A viand is something so good you’ll think about it for weeks after you eat it. Your grandmother’s Thanksgiving turkey might be a viand, or maybe the hot chocolate you drink after sledding is a viand. No matter what you consider delicious, you’re lucky if you’re eating a viand.
Vocabulary lists containing viand
Frankenstein
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The Tempest
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"The Pit and the Pendulum," Vocabulary from the short story
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
My Lord," said I, "it is a fast; I cannot this morning do justice to this delicious viand; it is a fast; I am under a vow.
From Visits To Monasteries in the Levant by Curzon, Robert
Pork is another viand admitted at times to enlarge the table-store.
From Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume II (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Anonymous
Not until one has tried does one realize to what excellence and variety this form of viand lends itself.
From Social Life or, The Manners and Customs of Polite Society by Cooke, Maud C.
It contained coffee or some other hot viand.
From The Boy Tar by Read, Edward
See bloated Dropsy added strength acquire As the parch'd lip the frequent draught obtains; Indulgence feeds the never-quench'd desire, That loaths the viand, and the goblet drains.
From Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace by Seward, Anna
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
