a native English combining form, now unproductive, denoting a fixed measure at a time:
piecemeal.
Origin
Middle English-mele, Old English-mǣlum, combining form representing mǣl meal1
Related Words
inchmeal
piecemeal
-meal adverb combining form
ETYMOLOGY Middle English -mele, from Old English -mǣlum, from mǣlum, dative plural of mǣl
: by a (specified) portion or measure at a time piecemeal
-meal, suffixforming advs. (all obs.exc.piecemeal), repr.ME.-mele (down to the 14th c. sometimes -melum), OE.-mǽlum. The OE.advs. in -mǽlum are in form the instrumental case plural of compounds of mǽl meal n.2, in the sense of ‘measure’, ‘quantity taken at one time’, as in cuclérmǽl spoonful (as a measure), the instr.pl. of which would be *cuclérmǽlum by spoonfuls. The particular compounds of this formation actually recorded in the instr.pl., however, do not occur in the other cases, and already in OE.-mǽlum had come to be a mere suffix with the sense expressed in Latin by -ātim, -tim, and in mod.Eng. by the repetition of the n. preceded by by. Examples which existed in OE. are dropmǽlum dropmeal, floccmǽlum flockmeal, fótmǽlum footmeal, héapmǽlum heapmeal, limmǽlum limbmeal, scéafmǽlum sheaf by sheaf, stemmǽlum turn by turn, alternately, stundmǽlum stoundmeal, styccemǽlum bit by bit, ᵹéarmǽlum year by year. The suffix continued to be productive in ME., among the formations dating from that period being cantlemeal, cupmeal, gobbetmeal, littlemeal, parcelmeal, pennymeal, piecemeal, poundmeal, and the Latinisms ravishmeal (Wyclif) ‘raptim’, table-meal ‘tabulatim’. A remarkable survival of the OE. inflexion appears in Wyclif's hipyllmelum(see hipple). To the 16th c. belong fitmeal, inchmeal, jointmeal, lumpmeal; in later Eng. the suffix has not been productive, though nonce-words such as pagemeal have occasionally been formed, more or less playfully. A trace of the originally substantival character of the suffix remains in the use of by piecemeal as a synonym of the simple adv. (cf. the obs.by flockmeal, by pennymeal, etc.).1493Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 8 b, Hymselfe with his owone handes kest away the fleshe lompe mele.1827Blackw. Mag. XXI. 884 How pleasant it would be to tear it pagemeal, and fling it in the author's face.
-meal/mi:l/suffix. OE.
ORIGIN:Old Englishmælum instr. pl. of mælmealnoun2.
Forming adverbs from nouns with the sense ‘measure, quantity taken at one time’, as flockmeal, inchmeal, piecemeal.
-meal \ˌmēl, ˈmē(ə)l\adverb combining form Etymology: Middle English -mele, from Old English -mǣlum, from mǣlum, dative plural of mǣl appointed time — more at meal (repast) : by a (specified) portion or measure at a time < inchmeal > < piecemeal >
-meal 1
IPA: /miːl/
Rhymes: -iːl
Suffix
rare or no longer productive Used to denote a fixed number, measure, or amount at a time.
wordmeal (“one word at a time, word by word”)
Etymology
From Middle English-mele, from Old English-mǣlum (“at times”), from mǣlum, dative plural of mǣl (“a time”). Compare Saterland Frisian-moal, German -mal. More at meal.
Derived terms
bitmeal
dropmeal
flockmeal
heapmeal
leafmeal
littlemeal
pagemeal
piecemeal
stepmeal
stoundmeal
thousandmeal
whilemeal
wordmeal
-meal 2
Suffix
Denotes a powder made of ground cereal.
Etymology
From Middle Englishmele, from Old Englishmelu (“meal, flour”), from Proto-Germanic*melwą (“meal, flour”), from Proto-Indo-European*mel-, *mol(w)ə- (“to grind, mill”). More at meal.