dish

1 of 2

noun

ˈdish

plural dishes

Synonyms of dish next

: a more or less concave vessel from which food is served

: the contents of a dish

a dish of strawberries

dishes plural : all the things (such as plates, utensils, glasses, and pots) that are used to prepare, serve, or eat a meal

dishes piled in the sink

We washed the dinner dishes.

: food prepared in a particular way

: something one particularly enjoys : cup of tea

a(1)

: any of various shallow concave vessels

broadly : anything shallowly concave

(2)

: a directional receiver having a concave usually parabolic reflector

especially : one used as a microwave or radar antenna

: the state of being concave or the degree of concavity

: something that is favored

entertainment that is just his dish

: an attractive or sexy person

: gossip sense 2a

the latest dish

dish

2 of 2

verb

dished; dishing; dishes

transitive verb

: to put (something, such as food for serving) into a dish

—often used with up

: present

—usually used with up

: to make concave like a dish

: to disclose or discuss especially publicly

dish the dirt

: to pass (a basketball) to a teammate

—often used with off

intransitive verb

: gossip

also : to disclose private or personal information

: to pass a basketball to a teammate

—often used with off

Examples of dish in a Sentence

Noun a small dish of ice cream Each person made a dish for the potluck supper. The restaurant serves some of my favorite dishes. We piled all the dishes in the sink after dinner. Will you wash the breakfast dishes, please? a sink full of dirty dishes Verb The two of them are always dishing about their coworkers. a DJ who dishes the celebrity gossip as part of the morning programming See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The best ways to achieve crispy bacon Creamy Broccoli and Bacon Salad Skip the lettuce entirely with this dish that includes bacon, broccoli florets, cheddar cheese, red onion, chopped walnuts and sunflower seeds in a creamy dressing. —

Aaron Hutcherson, Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2023 Press mixture evenly into bottom of an 11- x 7-inch baking dish. —

Jasmine Smith, Southern Living, 10 Sep. 2023 The company said the dish is being distributed after passing in-depth testing and receiving guest feedback. —

Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 9 Sep. 2023 The menu is designed to be family-style, encouraging diners (including solo ones) to choose multiple dishes for a flat price. —

Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2023 The acacia wood lid becomes a stylish trivet for dishes coming straight from the oven to the table. —

Megan Boettcher, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Sep. 2023 Arrange half the sweet potatoes in one layer, overlapping as necessary, in prepared baking dish. —

Christopher Michel, Country Living, 8 Sep. 2023 To enhance flavor in your dishes, look to alternatives such as celery, fennel, shallots or chives. —

Christine Nguyen, D.o. Mayo Foundation For Medical Education and Research, Chicago Tribune, 8 Sep. 2023 Use them to create a petite but precious keepsake, like these ornaments from One Little Project, or try your hand at a ring dish, mug, and more. —

Alyssa Longobucco, House Beautiful, 30 Aug. 2023

Verb

Andy Cohen is dishing on his kiss with Jennifer Lawrence. —

Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 23 Aug. 2023 Sarah Snook is finally dishing on her legendary run as Shiv Roy in HBO’s Succession and the show's emotional final season. —

Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 3 Aug. 2023 From bug zappers to dish soap, farmers and gardeners have drummed up all kinds of solutions for plant-munching pests. —

Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 3 Aug. 2023 Hip-hop legends Snoop Dogg and E-40 are dishing on their culinary essentials with a joint cookbook. —

USA TODAY, 19 July 2023 The film was written and directed by James C. Strouse, who dished about working with the married couple. —

Aimée Lutkin, ELLE, 15 July 2023 The 20-year-old also dished on who inspires her musically, while expressing her adoration for Bruce Springsteen. —

Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 27 July 2023 The Easts dished about their plans for the rest of the summer, dream podcast guests, growing the FamilyMade media network, and more. —

Jamie Kravitz, Woman's Day, 16 July 2023 Luckily, Shay dished on all of her health and wellness secrets to Women’s Health. —

Jacqueline Tempera, Women's Health, 3 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English dyssh, disch, going back to Old English disc, borrowed from Latin discus "discus, kind of plate, gong" borrowed from Greek dískos "discus," in Late Greek also "dish, round mirror, the sun's disk, gong" — more at discus

Note: In later imperial Latin (Apuleius's Metamorphoses, Ulpian), the word discus is found with the meaning "dish, platter," a fairly natural extension given the shape of a discus. This sense is continued in Late Latin, as in the Vulgate, where the head of John the Baptist is brought to Herodias's daughter "in disco." It is found as a borrowing in Celtic languages (Old Irish tesc "dish"; Old Welsh discl, Welsh dysgl "dish, platter," from a diminutive *disculus; Old Breton discou "dishes") and Germanic—in addition to Old English, Old High German tisc. In Romance and the continental Germanic languages, however, the sense "dish" was largely replaced by a new sense "table," perhaps because the small, round tables in use for serving approximated the function of dishes. In Medieval Latin this meaning of discus can be found from the late eighth century (Capitulare de villis). The etymon is well attested in Gallo-Romance and in northern and central Italy: Italian desco "dining table" (13th-century Tuscan, also in medieval Lombard), Old Occitan des, desc "table," Old French deis "table of honor set up on a platform" (see dais). In Germanic, compare Old Saxon disk "table," Middle Dutch disc, desc "dining table," Old High German tisc (the sense "table" effectively ousting "dish" by Middle High German). A final permutation of the Medieval Latin word was the sense "writing table, desk," attested in British sources as descus, desca (from the late 13th century—see s.v. discus in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources) and on the continent as discus (from the 12th or 13th century—see Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch); see desk.