English

Noun

nooning ‎(plural noonings)

1. (archaic, dialectal) A nap or rest in the middle of the day.
   • 1896, Various, McClure's Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 5, April, 1896:

     When the girls went in to dinner the men had finished theirs, and were lounging in the shady yard enjoying their nooning.

   • 1899, George Edward Woodberry, Heart of Man:

     An hour or two passed, and we saw a house in the distance to which we drove,--a humble house, sod-built, like that we had made our nooning in.

   • 1912, Charles Egbert Craddock, The Ordeal:

     It was the nooning hour, and the men at their limited leisure lay in the sun on the piles of lumber, like lizards.

2. (archaic, dialectal) lunch; a meal in the middle of the day
   • 1875, Various, Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 15,:

     Then on to Big Bitter Cottonwood, where we had our nooning among the trees on the wide sandy bed of the stream, which had sunk under ground for many miles, as is the custom of rivers here.

   • 1878, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), A Tramp Abroad:

     A German gentleman and his two young-lady daughters had been taking their nooning at the inn, and when they left, just ahead of us, it was plain that their driver was as drunk as ours, and as happy and good-natured, too, which was saying a good deal.

   • 1909, Various, The California Birthday Book:

     In proper California fashion we made our nooning by the roadside, pulling up under the shade of a hospitable sycamore and turning Sorreltop out to graze.

Quotations

1. • 1922, Herbert Quick, Vandemark's Folly:

     About the time I began wondering how long they were to stay with me, Buck Gowdy came careering over the prairie, driving his own horse, just as I was taking my nooning and was looking at the gun which Rowena had used to drive back the Settlers' Club, and which we had brought along with us.