munchie

English

Etymology 1

From munch +‎ -ie.

Noun

munchie (plural munchies)

1. (informal) A snack.

   Alternative form: munchy

   • 1978, Elise W. Manning, “To Cheer a Sick Friend”, in Farm Journal’s Friendly Food Gifts From Your Kitchen, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 38:

     Another homemade mix treat that any youngster will love—a big jar filled with Country-style Granola. It can be eaten as a “munchie” or a cereal, or used in a recipe for cookies or apple crisp.

   • 1984, Barbra Goodman, Pauline Czarnecki, Training Dogs with Common Sense, Galesburg, Ill.: H and S Publications, Inc., →LCCN, page 47:

     As the handler returns to his dog, have him raise his arm with a delicious munchie visible in his hand, so that the dog gets in the habit of looking up.

   • 1993, Jean Paré, Light Recipes (Company’s Coming), Edmonton, Alta.: Company’s Coming Publishing Limited, published 1995, →ISBN, page 20:

     This will gratify your longing for a tasty munchie.

   • 1998, Keith Twining, “Cognitive Psychology: How Do We Think?”, in Success in Psychology, London: John Murray, →ISBN, page 205:

     Crunchers eat munchies. On one side of the river there are three munchies and three crunchers. All six have to cross the river. There is only one boat and it has room for two only. At no time must two crunchers be left with one munchie or the munchie gets eaten.

   • 2002, Terry Thompson-Anderson, Texas on the Plate, Fredericksburg, Tex.: Shearer Publishing, →ISBN, page 21:

     We “graze,” moving from one munchie to the next, stopping to chat when we come upon a fellow grazer.

   • 2005, David Bennun, “Lost in the supermarket”, in British as a Second Language: Travels Among the English, London: Ebury Press, published 2006, →ISBN, page 63:

     If it’s true that you have to hit rock bottom before you can begin to climb back up again, then the nadir of my self-inflicted dining misadventures came about in the small hours of one munchie-ridden night.

   • 2006, More Good Thymes in the Kitchen: An Expanded Collection of Recipes from The Thyme Garden, Alsea, Ore.: The Thyme Garden Herb Company, page 30:

     Creamcheese can be substituted for Brie for an equally tasty munchie.

   • 2022, Rachel Lord, “The Hepato-Biliary System”, in Clinical Herbalism: Plant Wisdom from East and West, St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier, →ISBN, part IV (Case Histories: Therapeutics and Formulations), page 304, column 2:

     Eaten alone as a munchie, added to tonic teas, or in tincture, all these sweet berries are superb.

Derived terms

• munchie box
• munchies

Etymology 2

An anglicisation of Irish muintir na hAite (literally “people of the place”).

Noun

munchie (plural munchies)

1. (Ireland) A person who lives in a Gaeltacht area of Ireland.

Further reading

• “munchie n.¹”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• “munchie n.²”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present