Slang for mealtime — the time when food is served or eaten.
Slang for mealtime — the time when food is served or eaten. The word combines 'chow' (informal for food, particularly in military contexts) with 'time', producing a casual, no-fuss term with a slightly institutional or military flavour. It is informal and cheerful in register.
The bell rang and the kids stampeded toward the cafeteria — chowtime was always the highlight of the school day.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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(slang) An announcement of mealtime.
Chow call is military and institutional slang for an announcement signalling that it's time to eat — the call to the mess hall or dining facility. 'Chow' is established American slang for food (of uncertain but possibly Chinese-pidgin origin), and 'call' refers to the announcement or bugle call. The term is most at home in military, camp, prison, or other institutional settings where meals are communal and announced. Carries a no-frills, no-ceremony register.
(US, military, informal) A meal served in the mess hall around midnight or later.
Military slang for the mess hall — the cafeteria where service members eat their meals on base. Chow hall carries the no-frills, institutional energy of military life: you grab a tray, get your food, eat fast, and get back to it. Outside the armed forces, the phrase has bled into school, prison, and camp contexts to describe any large communal eating space where the menu isn't exactly gourmet.
(slang) The time when food is eaten; a mealtime.
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