victual
/ˈvɪt(ə)l
/dated
noun (victuals)
Food or provisions: turkey and other savoury victuals were served...
- If you equate vegetarian food with starch, stodge, and more starch, you'll be delighted to learn there's a restaurant in Singapore free of associations with vegetarian victuals and 1970s communes.
- During that time she only ate mild herbs and light victuals.
- I declined the victuals although others partook of cheese, crackers and fruit cake.
verb (victuals, victualling, victualled; US victuals, victualing, victualed) [with object]
1Provide with food or other stores: the ship wasn’t even properly victualled...
- In London: ‘In 1618 the city fathers complained that the multitude of alehouses and victualing houses within this city increasing daily are grown so dangerous and enormous as it is high time to suppress the number of them’.
- The quality of his results and their importance in victualling the French navy were recognised with a prize of 12,000 francs, on condition that Appert published his method - which he did in 1810.
- The other was always held up to us as a model because she married a Government labourer in the Deptford victualling yard, and kept his room and the three children neat and tidy on eighteen shillings a week - until he took to drink.
1.1 [no object] archaic Obtain or lay in food or other stores: a voyage of such length, that no ship could victual for...
- In fact, the costs of war on two fronts - and the switching of expensive Cinque Ports shipping and victualling up and down the east coast - were to become in future penal for an English monarchy challenged in Parliament by a powerful baronage.
- For example, British India calculated ‘earnings, cargo carried to all ports and the freight rate applied, as well as passage times, victualling, fuel, loading and discharging costs’.
- After refuelling and victualling at Austal, Armidale headed north to Dampier where members of the sea training group were changed and contractors came on board to repair some minor defects to davits.
1.2 [no object] archaic Eat: victual with me next Saturday
Origin
Middle English: from Old French vitaille, from late Latin victualia, neuter plural of Latin victualis, from victus 'food'; related to vivere 'to live'. The pronunciation still represents the early spelling vittel; later spelling has been influenced by the Latin form.