Lunch lady is the American term for the cafeteria worker — usually a woman — who serves food to students in a school dining hall.
Lunch lady is the American term for the cafeteria worker — usually a woman — who serves food to students in a school dining hall. The role carries a specific cultural weight in American popular culture: lunch ladies appear in countless films, TV shows, and comedy sketches, often depicted as formidable, hairnetted figures wielding industrial ladles. The term is used affectionately rather than disparagingly, and real-life lunch ladies are often celebrated figures in their school communities.
The lunch lady always sneaked an extra scoop of mashed potato onto his tray when the queue was short.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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(UK) A woman employed to prepare, serve or supervise school dinners.
(British, informal) A woman employed to serve food in a school or work canteen.
(US, dated) A cafeteria where lunch is served.
A dated American term for a casual cafeteria-style eatery that specializes in lunch service — think counter seats, daily specials on a chalkboard, and quick service for the midday crowd. Luncheterias were common in mid-20th century American cities, filling the gap between a proper sit-down restaurant and a diner. The word has a charming retro quality that captures the optimistic, can-do vocabulary of the postwar American food scene.
(US) A dinner lady.
“the typical experience of seeing a feel good video about a school lunch lady and going down a rabbit hole to confirm she works at a fundamentalist private school”