victuals
noun (victuals, usually plural; verb: victual, victuals, victualled, victualling – rare)
Everyday
- (old-fashioned) Food and drink, especially supplies of food for a journey or for many people. tree →
- (verb, rare) To supply a ship or an army with food. tree →
In the lessons
An old word found in old stories and in The Wind in the Willows, where the animals speak of food and drink in grand old ways; sailors and armies needed victuals for long voyages. It makes speech sound old or funny. Today «vittles» (the same word, spelled as said) is used jokingly in the USA, especially in cowboy talk.
Examples
- The sailors loaded the ship with victuals for the long voyage. tree →
- «Fetch the victuals!» cried the hungry pirate. tree →
- The innkeeper brought plenty of good victuals to the table. tree →
- The army ran short of victuals in the cold winter. tree →
- Grandad jokingly calls his dinner «my vittles». tree →
- The travellers packed bread, cheese and other victuals for the road. tree →
- "Sit down to table and swallow your victuals!" replied the old woman. tree →
Note
A big spelling trap: it is spelled «victuals» but said «VIT-ulz» – the c and the u are silent. Usually plural. Not used in everyday modern speech except as a joke.
In Jewish tradition
The Torah forbids lending food at interest to a fellow Israelite.
Interpretation. Tradition reads this as a law of kindness. Helping a poor person should be a gift or a loan without profit.
Examples
- Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase. (Torah LEV.25.37, JPS 1917) tree →
- And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. (Torah GEN.14.11, JPS 1917) tree →
- Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of any thing that is lent upon interest. (Torah DEU.23.19, JPS 1917) tree →
- And he inquired of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.' (Prophets 1SA.22.10, JPS 1917) tree →
- And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided victuals for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year. (Prophets 1KI.4.7, JPS 1917) tree →
Note
A big spelling trap: it is spelled «victuals» but said «VIT-ulz» – the c and the u are silent. Usually plural. Not used in everyday modern speech except as a joke.
Early Modern English
Meaning
Food and drink, or supplies of food. tree →
Then and now
Old-fashioned; today we say food. The first and third sentences use the old sense of supplies of food.
Examples
- Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase. (Torah LEV.25.37, JPS 1917) tree →
- "Sit down to table and swallow your victuals!" replied the old woman. (Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore) tree →
- And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. (Torah GEN.14.11, JPS 1917) tree →
Note
Today: food.
On Mova
- Trees and pragmatics of «victuals» in the school dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- «victuals» in the school dictionary on Mova free.
- Trees and pragmatics of «victuals» in the Judaism dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- «victuals» in the Judaism dictionary on Mova free.
- Trees and pragmatics of «victuals» in the Early Modern English dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- «victuals» in the Early Modern English dictionary on Mova free.
This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/victuals/