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Is there any word to designate a meal that serves as breakfast, lunch and dinner? (i.e. only meal of the day)

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    Where did you get "linner"? People might occasionally use it in a joking one-off way, but it's not a serious word.
    – Jim
    Jul 26, 2014 at 17:56
  • @Jim ell.stackexchange.com/a/29973/3023
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Jul 26, 2014 at 18:20
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    Yes, and that usage is what I'd call a joking usage- the person using it knows it's not a real word but is trying to be cute. As evidenced, by- "call it linner or dunch, or luner, lunner, lupper" and all from the urban dictionary which has some value for certain situations, but one must be extremely careful how one interprets information found there.
    – Jim
    Jul 26, 2014 at 19:19
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    Since we're just making words up: Berliner!
    – CocoPop
    Jul 26, 2014 at 19:25
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    I personally use "linner"... though "dunch" is amusing to me.... but it's in the wrong order.
    – Catija
    May 28, 2015 at 18:20

3 Answers 3

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Typically the meal is named for the time-frame in which it occurs.

  • Breakfast: early morning
  • Lunch: midday
  • Dinner/Supper: early evening (although dinner can also be noon to early-afternoon especially on Sundays and holidays, and whether the evening meal is called dinner or supper varies regionally as well.)

If the meal falls outside the "normal" time-frame it is modified: late dinner, late breakfast, early lunch, late lunch.

Terms like Brunch combines two elements of a meal- time-frame and menu. Brunch, combining Breakfast and Lunch, is usually eaten mid-morning, in-between the normal breakfast and lunch time-frame, and usually consists of both breakfast and lunch foods.

There's not as much of a distinction between Lunch and Dinner menu items so there really isn't a separate word combining Lunch and Dinner. It's either a late lunch or an early dinner (depending which meals you've already eaten or plan to eat.)

To combine all three meals into one you'd typically modify it with "Big" and then choose the term appropriate for the time-frame in which it was taken.
A "Big Breakfast," a "Big Lunch", a "Big Dinner" etc.
There's no need for a separate word because all the time-frames are adequately covered. For example:

We'll be eating a big lunch tomorrow so I'm going to skip breakfast and I probably won't be hungry for supper later.

I ate such a big breakfast that I think I probably won't eat again until tomorrow.

The brunch at Hotel del Coronado was huge! I couldn't possibly eat anything more for the rest of the day.

Dinner is at 1:00pm tomorrow. We're going all out, so come hungry and be prepared to not eat for the rest of the day.

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I would just call it a daily meal.

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Ditch dinner, since that actually can refer to either the noon meal or the last meal of the day. Use "supper" instead. Then say

Brupper

breakfast
lunch
supper

It's made up, but so is "linner." And if this question is allowed to stand, so should this answer.

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