cerealadj.n.
/ˈsɪərɪəl/, U.S. /ˈsɪriəl/ A. adj.
Of or pertaining to corn or edible grain.
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the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > [adjective]
frumentaceous1668
frumental1670
frumentarious1670
cerealiousa1682
grainy1755
cereal1818
cerealian1849
cerealic1881
1818 H. T. Colebrooke On Import Colonial Corn 20 Wheat..is, of all the cereal seeds, the best adapted to the making of bread.
1853 G. Johnston Terra Lindisfarnensis I. 19 The sylvan and cereal grounds of Blanerne.
1872 D. Oliver Lessons Elem. Bot. (new ed.) ii. 276 Corn-producing or Cereal Grasses, called Cereals.
B. n.
a. (usually in plural; also in Latin form cerealia.) A name given to those plants of the family Graminaceæ or grasses which are cultivated for their seed as human food; commonly comprised under the name corn or grain. (Sometimes extended to cultivated leguminous plants.)
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the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > [noun]
corn871
curnsa1400
frumentc1440
stuff1461
victual1473
plough-meat1580
fourment1601
breadstuff1793
white victual1799
cereal1832
corn-chandlery1883
mutt-eye1946
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > cereal plants or corn
cornc897
vetchc1300
grainc1315
blade1553
Pennsylvania corn1739
cereal1868
1832 E. Lankester Veg. Substances Food 10 The chief corn-plants, or cerealia, are wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, rice, and maize.
1868 C. Darwin Variation Animals & Plants I. ix. 318 The slow and gradual improvement of our cereals.
1872 S. W. Baker Nile Tributaries Abyssinia (new ed.) iv. 54 The cultivation of this cereal.
b. An article of food (esp. a breakfast dish) made from a cereal; frequently breakfast cereal. Originally U.S.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > grain dishes > [noun] > breakfast cereals
granola1886
cornflakes1890
cereal1899
shredded wheat1899
wheatflakes1903
Post Toasties1908
Wheaties1925
Rice Krispies1928
Pablum1932
Weetabix1936
muesli1939
flakes1951
snap, crackle, pop1954
sugar puff1957
granola1970
1899 Chicago Daily News 9 May 7 Free with 6 packages of Hazel Cereals, any assortment, a handsomely decorated tea canister.
1906 R. W. Chambers Fighting Chance 145 To breakfast all alone was delicious..to loiter over cream-jug and cereal.
1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 11/2 Breakfast cereals.
1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay (U.K. ed.) ii. iii. 196 There's all these patent grain foods,—what Americans call cereals.
1934 A. Thirkell Wild Strawberries iv. 95 Clarissa looked so sweet eating her cereals.
1958 P. G. Wodehouse Cocktail Time xii. 103 when I was a young man..there were no cereals. We ate good wholesome porridge for breakfast and throve on it.
1962 A. Christie Mirror Crack'd i. 9 All these great packets of breakfast cereal instead of cooking a child a proper breakfast of bacon and eggs.
c. Used to render Latin Cerealia, ancient Roman games in honour of Ceres.
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1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxx. xxxix. 768 The Dictatour and Generall..exhibited the games called Cereales..to the honour of Ceres.
Derivatives
cereˈalian adj.
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the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > [adjective]
frumentaceous1668
frumental1670
frumentarious1670
cerealiousa1682
grainy1755
cereal1818
cerealian1849
cerealic1881
1849 H. D. Thoreau Week Concord & Merrimack Rivers 235 These cerealian blossoms expanded.
cereˈalic adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > [adjective]
frumentaceous1668
frumental1670
frumentarious1670
cerealiousa1682
grainy1755
cereal1818
cerealian1849
cerealic1881
1881 Academy 1 Oct. 252 A vast cerealic and frugiferous region.
ˈcerealism n. [after vegetarianism]
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the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating specific substances or food > [noun] > eating cereals
cerealism1888
1888 G. J. Holyoake in Co-operative News 14 Apr. 337 The progress which vegetarianism, or rather cerealism, is making everywhere.
Draft additions March 2007
cereal bar n. originally U.S. a pre-packaged food similar in size and shape to a chocolate bar, made of cereal and (typically) fruit; cf. breakfast bar (c) at breakfast n. Additions.In quot. 1945: a similar homemade piece of confectionery.
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1945 Los Angeles Times 4 Dec. a6/2 Chocolate truffles, shredded kisses and special cereal bars will be among the luscious array of sweet-tooth tempters.
1949 Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune 28 July 10/5 The arctic ration contains the 1800 calorie minimum. It consists of two kinds of cereal bars, a dried fruit bar, a nut bar and three kinds of chocolate and candy bars.
1961 Kansas City (Missouri) Times 16 Aug. 2 Ten Nebraska penitentiary inmates today began a 10-day test of a cereal bar developed by the State department of agriculture as a possible survival ration.
2006 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 1 Oct. 3 These days, you're not really meant to have breakfast. You just have a cereal bar on the way in to work.
Draft additions June 2019
cereal grass n. any of various grasses which have edible seeds and are typically cultivated as agricultural crops.
ΚΠ
1822 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening iv. ii. 1367 Plants and especially the cereal grasses are said to be blasted when the seeds or ears are lank and thin.
1963 Sci. News Let. 19 Oct. 245/2 Wheat is one of the most important cereal grasses grown today, mainly because it contains basic food elements essential to human and animal nutrition, is adaptable to many climates and is easy to grow.
2011 Independent (Nexis) 25 Nov. (Features section) 52 Contrary to its name, wild rice is not actually a member of the rice family but an aquatic cereal grass native to north America.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1600