the meal taken about the middle of the day.—The word is derived from the French dîner, which Du Cange derives from the barbarous Latin disjare. Henry Stephens derives it from the Greek διανεύω; and will have it wrote dîner. Menage deduces it from the Italian definare, "to dine"; and that from the Latin definere, "to leave off work."

It is generally agreed to be the most salutary to make a plentiful dinner, and to eat sparingly at supper. This is the general practice among us. The French, however, in imitation of the ancient Romans, defer their good cheer to the evening; and Bernardinus Paternus, an eminent Italian physician, maintains it to be the most wholesome method, in a treatise expressly on the subject.

The grand Tartar emperor of China, after he has dined, makes publication by his heralds, that he gives leave for all the other kings and potentates of the earth to go to dinner; as if they waited for his leave.