supper

«supper» in Mova's school dictionary: the evening meal, especially a light or simple one, or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (supper, a supper, suppers)

meaning for a pupil

1) Supper is the evening meal, especially a light or simple one, or the last meal before bed. tree →

2) (UK, regional) In some families and regions "supper" means the main evening meal, the same as dinner or tea. tree →

3) (Bible, church) The Last Supper was the meal Jesus shared with his disciples the night before he died; the Lord's Supper is another name for Holy Communion. tree →

sense in the lessons

Different English-speaking families use dinner, tea and supper differently: in northern England "tea" is the evening meal and "supper" a snack before bed; in the USA and Canada "supper" and "dinner" are often the same. In RE, the Last Supper is painted in a famous picture by Leonardo da Vinci. Phrases: have supper, at supper, eat your supper, a fish supper (Scotland: fish and chips), sing for your supper (do something in return for help).

examples

• We had soup and toast for supper. tree →
• Come in, it's time for supper! tree →
• At the Last Supper, Jesus broke the bread. tree →
• Grandma makes cocoa for supper before bed. tree →
• In Scotland we got a fish supper from the chip shop. tree →
• Our church shares the Lord's Supper once a month. tree →
• You'll have to sing for your supper and help wash up. tree →
• Servants came, and he ordered supper. tree →

note

Usually uncountable ("have supper", no "a"), but "a hot supper" is fine. Spelling: double p — supper (meal); super (great) has one p and says "SOO-per".

In the corpora

• The Rat chatters away about the fire and the supper waiting at home and doesn't notice how quiet the Mole has gone.
• The Mole protests — too late, too dark, and the Rat's supper!
• «Hang River Bank, and supper too!» says the Rat, and takes his arm.
• After supper there is a heavy knock: Badger, muddy and rough from nights outdoors.
• After a fine supper the Woman looks at a mutton blade-bone and makes the First Singing Magic.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «supper» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.