snack

I. snack¹ /snæk/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
a small amount of food that is eaten between main meals or instead of a meal:
I grabbed a quick snack.
Drinks and light snacks are served at the bar.
snack foods like crisps and peanuts
• • •
THESAURUS
■ types of meal
▪ breakfast a meal that you eat in the morning
▪ brunch a meal that you eat in the late morning, instead of breakfast or lunch
▪ lunch a meal that you eat in the middle of the day
▪ tea British English a meal that you eat in the afternoon or evening
▪ dinner the main meal of the day, which most people eat in the evening
▪ supper a small meal that you eat in the evening, in British English; the main meal that you eat in the evening, in American English
▪ picnic a meal that you eat outdoors, consisting of food that you cooked or prepared earlier
▪ barbecue a meal that you cook outdoors over hot coals or wood and eat outdoors
▪ snack a small amount of food that is eaten between main meals or instead of a meal
▪ side dish food eaten with the main course, such as vegetables: I’ll have the salad as a side dish.
▪ course one of the separate parts of a meal, such as the starter or the dessert: a three-course meal

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

snack

snack [snack snacks snacked snacking] noun, verb [snæk] [snæk]

noun
1. (informal) a small meal or amount of food, usually eaten in a hurry
• a mid-morning snack
• I only have time for a snack at lunchtime.
• Do you serve bar snacks?

• a snack lunch

2. (AustralE, informal) a thing that is easy to do
• It'll be a snack.
Word Origin:
Middle English (originally in the sense ‘snap, bite’): from Middle Dutch snac(k), from snacken ‘to bite’, variant of snappen. Senses relating to food date from the late 17th cent.
Thesaurus:
snack noun C
• There's just time for a quick snack.
something to eat • • refreshments •
(a) light snack/refreshments
have/grab a snack/something to eat
stop for a snack/something to eat/refreshments
Example Bank:
• I fixed myself a light snack.
• I got a drink from the hotel snack machine.
• Most office staff prefer a snack lunch to a sit-down meal.
• Order bar snacks with your drinks.
• We stopped at a service station for a quick snack.
• We stopped for a quick snack.
• I only have time for a quick snack at lunchtime.

• I think it's time for a mid-morning snack.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

snack / snæk / noun [ C ]

A2 a small amount of food that is eaten between meals, or a very small meal:

I had a huge lunch, so I'll only need a snack for dinner.

Fresh or dried fruit makes an ideal snack.

Many snack foods are high in salt, sugar, and fat.

Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

snack

[snæ_k]
snacks, snacking, snacked
1) N-COUNT A snack is a simple meal that is quick to cook and to eat.
  Lunch was a snack in the fields.
2) N-COUNT A snack is something such as a chocolate bar that you eat between meals.
  Do you eat sweets, cakes or sugary snacks?.
3) VERB If you snack, you eat snacks between meals.
  [V on n] Instead of snacking on crisps and chocolate, nibble on celery or carrot...
  She would improve her diet if she ate less fried food and snacked less.

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

¹snack /ˈsnæk/ noun, pl snacks [count] : a small amount of food eaten between meals
• He had a snack of chips and dip.
• between-meal snacks
• I didn't have time for lunch so I just grabbed a quick/light snack.
• peanuts, potato chips, and other snack foods