Definition
1. someone who is eating a meal at a restaurant
2. a small restaurant that sells simple cheap food
Origin and usage
The word diner is derived from the verb ‘dine’. ‘Dine’ comes from the late 13th century Old French word ‘disner’ which means ‘have a meal’. Diner first appeared in English around 1815. Its use as a word to describe a kind of simple American restaurant dates to 1935.
Examples
Diner typically refers to a person eating a meal in a restaurant. The word is also used to describe a kind of American restaurant that usually has a long counter and a few small tables where people can sit and eat.
Having a meal in a restaurant can feel like a special occasion, but some lucky diners get a truly remarkable experience at the world’s most unique restaurants.
In Zanzibar, there’s a restaurant set on a large rock in the middle of the water just off the beach at Michanwi Pingwe. Diners there are treated to delicious food and gorgeous views.
A restaurant in Thailand is set inside a cave, where diners can enjoy a delicious seafood barbecue, the restaurant’s speciality.
In the Philippines, diners can have a meal at the base of a real, running waterfall.
A temporary restaurant in the Maldives has been built underwater, and diners there can watch ocean life pass by as they eat their meal. This restaurant will not last forever, though, as its construction will begin to erode and it will have to close its doors.
Quotations
“A restaurant is a fantasy – a kind of living fantasy in which diners are the most important members of the cast.”
(Warner LeRoy)
View the full definition in the Macmillan Dictionary.
