déjeuner

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See also: dêjeuner, déjeûner, and dejeuner

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From French déjeuner.

Noun

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déjeuner (countable and uncountable, plural déjeuners)

  1. The French midday meal.
    • 1861, Anthony Trollope, Tales of All Countries, London: Chapman and Hall, […], page 4:
      She had a certain price, from which no earthly consideration would induce her to depart; and certain returns for this price in the shape of déjeuners and dinners, baths and beds, which she never failed to give in accordance with the dictates of a strict conscience. These were traits in the character of an hotel-keeper which cannot be praised too highly, and which had met their due reward in the custom of the public.
    • 1874, A Handbook for Travellers in Algeria. […], London: John Murray, […], page 162, column 1:
      The charges at the Inns along the road are generally, bed 2 fr. [francs], café-au-lait 1 fr., déjeuner and dinner 3 to 4 fr. each.
      The 2nd edition (1878) uses déjeûner.
    • 1900, Harper’s Guide to Paris and the Exposition of 1900: Being Practical Suggestions Concerning the Trip from New York to Paris, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, page 60:
      During the summer months the following restaurants offer the advantages of open air gardens and terraces, where déjeuners and dinners are served: […]
    • 1901, Country Life Illustrated, volume 9, page xx:
      A friend of mine, who was at a déjeuner given at the Russian Embassy by the Prince Ouroussoff to the Grand Duc and Grande Duchesse Vladimir, told me that some of the toilettes were beautiful.
    • 1901, [Ernest Alfred Vizetelly], The Lover’s Progress, New York, N.Y.: Brentano’s, pages 261, 273, 313, 325–326, and 354:
      “To Chatou,” I said; “we can have déjeuner there and then walk along the avenue beside the river to Croissy and the islands, if yon are not too tired. […]” […] “I do not wish you to lose them [gloves]; but I know you have very pretty little hands indeed. I noticed them during déjeuner.” […] “Keep some appetite for déjeuner, or you will not be able to touch it.” […] I had not told her about my visit to Briant’s, but when after déjeuner she spoke of sending for a cab so that we might drive to the Paradis, I replied that I had ordered a vehicle, and that it would be at the door at a quarter to two o’clock. […] After a long chat about one thing and another, he kept me to déjeuner, in spite of my protests that I was expected at home. […] Five of us, I think, sat down to déjeuner, served by the official flunkeys.
    • 1903, Truth, volume 54, page 1577:
      We went to-day to Roulinas to receive the jewels which Romain is to take to the Mont de Piété, and took déjeuner at Marguery’s (the expensive Porte St. Denis restaurant).
    • 1909, Motor Cycling and Motoring, volumes 14–15, page 70:
      It may be noted here that, so far as our experience went, the Custom House officials took déjeuner between 12 and 1 o’clock; that, like the servants’ dinner in our country, it was a feast after the order of the laws of the Medes and Persians, which alter not; that generally it may be advisable to time one’s arrival so that a long wait may be avoided, unless there is certainty of getting a satisfactory déjeuner close by; […]
    • 1912, E[rnest] Bryham Parsons, Pot-Pourri Parisien, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Publishing Company, pages 49 and 109:
      Naturally I was not thinking particularly of bags when I entered his house for the first time because the hall was all full of caricatures of celebrated people, and M. Jean Veber’s children were running about here and there, and I was thinking how much, if anything at all, I ought to charge for being English professor to his son—and then Madame Veber invited me to déjeuner and we forgot the money side of the question. […] In a burst of generous enthusiasm while dining the previous night with Blum, the Yankee student—in Establie’s Restarant,[sic] the Bohemian one—he offered Blum a seat for the following night, but when we went to Versailles for something next day, took déjeuner under the trees there, and French notes were simply melting into thin air.
    • 1913, Ainslee’s, volume 30, pages 68 and 142:
      “[…] To-day you will take a holiday, and we will go out in a gondola to one of the lagoons, and have our déjeuner and tea.” […] Here he had déjeuner, his eyes ever busy with the prospect in the valley below him; […]
    • 1913 March 15, Henry C[ottrell] Rowland, “The Sultana”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 185, number 37, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Curtis Publishing Company, page 45:
      They bribed the waiters to lend them their costumes, and went themselves and served the déjeuner, and did the most atrocious things! It was the laugh of the week in Paris; and afterward the baron forgave them and gave another déjeuner for their benefit.
    • 1920, Charles T[haddeus] Thompson, The Peace Conference Day by Day: A Presidential Pilgrimage Leading to the Discovery of Europe, New York, N.Y.: Brentano’s, pages 15, 18, and 43:
      At noon, the President and Mrs. Wilson were the guests of honor at the state déjeuner given by President and Mme. Poincaré at the Elysée Palace. […] It was their first real meeting, for there had been no opportunity to talk at the Dauphine station or at the Elysée Palace déjeuner. […] The President took déjeuner at the Foreign Office with Pichon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a number of diplomatic guests.
    • 1925, Walter Geer, Napoleon and Marie-Louise: The Fall of the Empire, New York, N.Y.: Brentano’s, page 238:
      He resumed his former custom of taking his déjeuner in his cabinet, and dined alone in his apartment.
    • 1932, The Strand Magazine, volume 83, pages 140 and 478:
      He took his departure and went off for déjeuner, at the little Café Pontoise that lies near the Préfecture. […] Yes, they were service flats. M. Gaillard had no personal servants; he generally took déjeuner here and dined out at a café, a gentleman of very regular habits.
    • 1945, Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Jane Bannard Greene and M[ary] D[ows] Herter Norton, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1892 — 1910, New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., pages 80–82, 85, and 338:
      After twelve Rodin invited me to déjeuner, which was served out of doors; it was very odd. […] Finally, a rather dirty person came, brought a few things (which were well cooked), carried them around and, in a very good-natured way, forced me to help myself when I didn’t want to: he apparently thought me extremely shy. I have hardly ever been present at such a singular déjeuner. […] After lunch she spoke to me in a very friendly manner—only now as housekeeper—, invited me always to have déjeuner whenever I am in Meudon etc. […] After a déjeuner that passed no less uneasily and strangely than the one I last mentioned, I went with Rodin into the garden, and we sat down on a bench which looked out wonderfully far over Paris. […] We again took déjeuner together, and afterward there was a good hour of serious conversation when the others had risen. […] And right here and now let an invitation be extended to you and Anna Jaenecke for a déjeuner I would like to offer you there.
    • 1957, Agnes de Stoeckl, King of the French: A Portrait of Louis Philippe, 1773-1850, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, published 1958, →LCCN, pages 136, 159, 190, and 264:
      She gave a magnificent déjeuner to all the company, the Duc d’Aumale on her right, the Duc d’Orléans on her left. […] Monsieur Badouin, who had brought the news, was surrounded by the Duc, his family, and even the chefs, who appeared in their tall white caps, still holding the utensils with which they were preparing the déjeuner. […] At ten o’clock all took déjeuner together, except Louis Philippe, who was already too occupied to be punctual. […] At the Tuileries, the déjeuner was a jumble of emotions.
    • 1957, Michael Gilbert, The Claimant, London: Constable, pages 16 and 76:
      He took déjeuner with Châtillon; a meal which, as Lord Cockburn carefully explained to the jury, “is neither breakfast nor luncheon, nor what would be exactly interpreted by either of those terms, but is a sort of combination of both”; had dinner with M. d’Aranza, the Abbé Salis and M. Châtillon; said goodbye to Gossein, chance-met in the street; and, on March 1st, 1853 set sail in the French ship La Pauline for Valparaiso. […] He was hurried into the presence without even being allowed time for déjeuner.
    • 2006, Linda Lee Chaikin, Daughter of Silk (The Silk House Series), Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, →ISBN, pages 77, 116, and 181:
      If Guise is to see Catherine about Avenelle, it will be after the déjeuner. […] The arrangement that she and Nenette had labored on so long after déjeuner was of courtly fashion, a bundle of braided sections mingled with petite curls into a waterfall, which then cascaded down her back and across her left shoulder. […] I thought we could visit during our déjeuner.

Verb

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déjeuner (third-person singular simple present déjeuners, present participle déjeunering, simple past and past participle déjeunered)

  1. (intransitive, rare) To have déjeuner.
    • 1863 November 21, Peter Lesley, edited by Mary Lesley Ames, Life and Letters of Peter and Susan Lesley, volume I, New York, N.Y., London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons; The Knickerbocker Press, published 1909, page 461:
      I passed stacks of iron ore, piles of rails; heard of lots of forges to the right and left; swept over the Adour at Dax in view of its castle and great church; past Orthez with its immense town of Moncade (little dreaming of the Joys in store for me at its foot), where Gaston Phœbus, Count of Foix, carried his lovely mistress and murdered his own son, and died himself; up the lovely Gare de Pau, and was met at the railroad depot by old Father Bost, to whom I had sent a flying telegram from Monceaux where I déjeunered.
    • 1893 October 21, J. Rowley, “On a Bicycle through Normandy. With the French Army. (Conclusion.)”, in The Liverpool Echo, number 4,354, Liverpool, page 3, column 7:
      I lived like a fighting cock, smoked like a Turk, and drank (coffee) like a fish; I had dined and “déjeunered”; I saw everything and everybody on my route.
    • 1894 September 19, Lady Aberdeen [i.e., Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair], The Canadian Journal of Lady Aberdeen, 1893-1898 (The Publications of the Champlain Society; XXXVIII), Toronto, Ont.: The Champlain Society, published 1960, page 121:
      We lunched or dejeûnered with French Admiral also on Monday & M. Chapleau made a most charming & graceful speech in responding, bringing in many allusions to the Admiral’s Chinese experiences at the time of the French war under Admiral Courbet, whose body he afterwards brought back.
    • 1899, Robert Dottie, The Rambles and Recollections of “R’Dick”, Manchester: Albert Sutton, […], page 169:
      Well, havin’ “déjeunered,” we set off i’ scramblin fashun to view Chatsworth—abeaut a mile or mooar—under a broilin sun, an’ streeamin’ o’ prespiration, an’ which yoar beaund to reitch befoor a quarter to one o’clock or else yoa connot get through that day.
    • 1909, E[dith] Nesbit, Daphne in Fitzroy Street, Toronto, Ont.: The Musson Book Company, Limited, page 174:
      “Will mademoiselle remain here till I return to the Mont Blanc and find the key which without doubt remains over there, upon the table where we déjeunered?”
    • 1916, F[rank] Berkeley Smith, Babette: A Novel, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, page 240:
      By noon the fat, perspiring, and importantly busy merchant arrives, overweighted with red blood, fat, and responsibility, for a game of manille or dominoes with three or four old cronies. They déjeuner together; and you may be sure they eat heartily.
    • 2005, Matthew Sturgis, Walter Sickert: A Life, London: Harper Perennial, →ISBN, page 480:
      He told Ethel Sands, with typical exaggeration, ‘Asselin remains, I might say, my only friend. He is in the country but now & again comes up & we déjeuner with a bottle of white wine at the eighteenpenny French place. […]’

References

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French

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From dé- +‎ jeûner (“un fast (to break fast)”) or from a Vulgar Latin *disieiūnāre, from Late Latin ieiūnāre, from Latin ieiūnus. Compare Catalan dejunar, Spanish desayunar, Italian digiunare, Occitan dejunar, Portuguese desjejuar. Doublet of dîner from which English dine descended.

Verb

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déjeuner

  1. (formal) to lunch, to eat lunch, to have lunch
  2. (outside of France) to have breakfast
Conjugation
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Conjugation of déjeuner (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple déjeuner
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple déjeunant
/de.ʒœ.nɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle déjeuné
/de.ʒœ.ne/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present déjeune
/de.ʒœn/ 		déjeunes
/de.ʒœn/ 		déjeune
/de.ʒœn/ 		déjeunons
/de.ʒœ.nɔ̃/ 		déjeunez
/de.ʒœ.ne/ 		déjeunent
/de.ʒœn/
imperfect déjeunais
/de.ʒœ.nɛ/ 		déjeunais
/de.ʒœ.nɛ/ 		déjeunait
/de.ʒœ.nɛ/ 		déjeunions
/de.ʒœ.njɔ̃/ 		déjeuniez
/de.ʒœ.nje/ 		déjeunaient
/de.ʒœ.nɛ/
past historic2 déjeunai
/de.ʒœ.ne/ 		déjeunas
/de.ʒœ.na/ 		déjeuna
/de.ʒœ.na/ 		déjeunâmes
/de.ʒœ.nam/ 		déjeunâtes
/de.ʒœ.nat/ 		déjeunèrent
/de.ʒœ.nɛʁ/
future déjeunerai
/de.ʒœn.ʁe/ 		déjeuneras
/de.ʒœn.ʁa/ 		déjeunera
/de.ʒœn.ʁa/ 		déjeunerons
/de.ʒœn.ʁɔ̃/ 		déjeunerez
/de.ʒœn.ʁe/ 		déjeuneront
/de.ʒœn.ʁɔ̃/
conditional déjeunerais
/de.ʒœn.ʁɛ/ 		déjeunerais
/de.ʒœn.ʁɛ/ 		déjeunerait
/de.ʒœn.ʁɛ/ 		déjeunerions
/de.ʒœ.nə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		déjeuneriez
/de.ʒœ.nə.ʁje/ 		déjeuneraient
/de.ʒœn.ʁɛ/
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present déjeune
/de.ʒœn/ 		déjeunes
/de.ʒœn/ 		déjeune
/de.ʒœn/ 		déjeunions
/de.ʒœ.njɔ̃/ 		déjeuniez
/de.ʒœ.nje/ 		déjeunent
/de.ʒœn/
imperfect2 déjeunasse
/de.ʒœ.nas/ 		déjeunasses
/de.ʒœ.nas/ 		déjeunât
/de.ʒœ.na/ 		déjeunassions
/de.ʒœ.na.sjɔ̃/ 		déjeunassiez
/de.ʒœ.na.sje/ 		déjeunassent
/de.ʒœ.nas/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — déjeune
/de.ʒœn/ 		— déjeunons
/de.ʒœ.nɔ̃/ 		déjeunez
/de.ʒœ.ne/ 		—
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

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Descendants
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  • → English: déjeuner

Etymology 2

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Nominalization of the above verb.

Noun

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déjeuner m (plural déjeuners)

  1. (France, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Algeria, Tunisia, New Caledonia, Réunion, Morocco, West Africa) lunch, luncheon
  2. (outside of France, occasionally in France) breakfast
Derived terms
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Descendants
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Further reading

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