Square meal

The term square meal, denoting a satisfying, hearty meal, dates back to at least the late nineteenth century and probably arose from the association of square with right a square’s angles are right angles, so if something is square it is right, and things that are done right—like a meal—are usually satisfying. In the early twentieth century, square meal gave rise to three square meals, an expression that subsequently became so familiar that the Message Bible—a recent attempt to render the Bible into modern, colloquial English—replaced “Give us this day our daily bread” with “Keep us alive with three square meals.” The term square drink also arose in the nineteenth century, but unlike square meal it derives from the actual shape of the beverage: any drink poured until it is as high in the glass as the glass is wide is a square drink.


 


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