n.
- a shallow, flat-bottomed container for cooking or serving food.
▸
(the dishes)
all the items used in the preparation, serving, and eating of a meal.
▸a shallow, concave receptacle:
a soap dish.
▸
(also dish aerial)
a bowl-shaped radio aerial.
- a particular variety or preparation of food served as part of a meal.
- informal a sexually attractive person.
-
(the dish)
informal information which is not generally known or available.
- concavity of a spoked wheel resulting from a difference in spoke tension.
v.
-
(dish something out/up)
put food on to a plate or plates before a meal.
▸
(dish something out)
dispense something in a casual or indiscriminate way.
- informal, chiefly Brit. utterly destroy or defeat.
- N. Amer. informal gossip.
-
[usu. as adj. dished]
make slightly concave.
Phrase
- dish the dirt
informal reveal scandal or gossip.
Derivative
- dishful n.
(pl. dishfuls)
.
Etymology
OE disc ‘plate, bowl’, based on L. discus (see discus).