dish

1 noun (C)

1 a flat round container with not very high sides, from which food is served on the table: a serving dish | a vegetable dish

—compare bowl 1 (1)

2 the dishes all the plates, cups, bowls etc that have been used to eat a meal and need to be washed: do/wash the dishes: I'll just do the dishes before we go.

3 food cooked or prepared in a particular way as a meal: a wonderful pasta dish

4 be a dish informal to be sexually attractive

—see also: side dish, satellite dish 2 verb (T) old-fashioned

1 dish the dirt informal to spend time talking about other people's private lives and saying unkind or shocking things about them

2 dish sb's hopes/chances especially BrE to prevent someone from doing something that they hoped to do

dish sth out phrasal verb (T) informal

1 to give something to various people in a careless way: We'll probably dish out some leaflets there too. | Portnoy still tends to dish out unwanted advice.

2 to serve food to people: Sam's dishing out sandwiches if you want one.

3 sb can dish it out but they can't take it used to say that someone is quick to criticize others but does not accept criticism well

dish up phrasal verb (I, T) to put food for a meal into dishes, ready to be eaten: dish sth up: Could you dish up the vegetables? They're there, on the sideboard.