Wiktionary
n. (context idiomatic English) Something obtained without any payment, obligation or effort
WordNet
n. something acquired without effort or payment or obligation; "there is no free lunch in politics or Hollywood"
Wikipedia
A free lunch is a sales enticement that offers a meal at no cost in order to attract customers and increase revenues from other offerings. It was a tradition once common in saloons in many places in the United States, with the phrase appearing in U.S. literature from about 1870 to the 1920s. These establishments included a "free" lunch, varying from rudimentary to quite elaborate, with the purchase of at least one drink. These free lunches were typically worth far more than the price of a single drink. The saloon-keeper relied on the expectation that most customers would buy more than one drink, and that the practice would build patronage for other times of day.
Free food or drink is sometimes supplied in contemporary times, often by gambling establishments such as casinos.
The saying " there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" refers to this custom, meaning that things which appear to be free are always paid for in some way.
A free lunch is a meal offered as a sales enticement.
Free Lunch may also refer to:
- There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, an economic concept
- The Free Lunch, a novel by Spider Robinson
- National School Lunch Program, a United States government program
- A nonfiction book by David Cay Johnston
Usage examples of "free lunch".
Before Jamie arrived, I visited the long table on which was arranged the city's most elaborate free lunch.
But actually it gave an uncounted number of plates of hot free lunch each day.
I was brought up to bathe regularly and to believe that There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.
He knows that I am angry with him, that I despise his notions, and that the free lunch is about to shut its doors.
Carter had started off with a few quiet jokes about people feeling honored to pay ten or twelve dollars a head to hear Kennedy speak, but the only way he could get people to listen to him was to toss in a free lunch along with his remarks.
McGarrity not only agree but helped the boy with the free lunch so that Neeley was all finished at four-thirty.