TV dinner

TV dinner

1. A frozen, ready-made meal that comes packaged in a disposable and microwavable serving tray. Primarily heard in US. We ate a lot of TV dinners whenever Dad was out of town for work. I'm way too lazy to cook, so I'll just nuke a TV dinner in the microwave.
2. slang Carrion, especially roadkill. ("TV" in this sense is used as a jocular initialism of "turkey vulture," which eats carrion.) Primarily heard in US. The bus driver kept referring to the road kill we were passing as TV dinners because of all the turkey vultures in the area. This highway is mostly traversed by huge cargo trucks, so there are always TV dinners littered all over it.
See also: dinner, TV
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

TV dinner

n. roadkill; a turkey vulture dinner. Whoops. I just made a TV dinner out of a squirrel!
See also: dinner, TV
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • cask wine
  • wine
  • ate up with (someone or something)
  • ate up with someone/something
  • ate
  • who ate all the pies
  • jam sandwich
  • whenever the fancy takes (one)
  • as, whenever, etc. the fancy takes you
  • more
References in periodicals archive
Caption: Tune in, chow down Swanson's original TV Dinner box was designed to resemble televisions of the period.
In a new twist on the TV dinner, buyers from the QVC television shopping network stopped by the booth to investigate the possibility of selling the line on the air.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the TV dinner. As with most milestones, the golden jubilee of the frozen dinner sparks a pondering of the past, present and future of compartmentalized cuisine.
A new-age TV dinner, the "steak" is accompanied by organic green beans, mashed potatoes and apple crisp - definitely worth a trip to the health food store to have on hand in a pinch.
8DA YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS WEE THINKER ACROSS: 7 Proverb 9 Raids 10 Colin 11 Eyesore 12 Row 13 Nazareth 16 Brickbat 17 Dad 19 Memento 21 Donor 22 Gloom 23 Kittens DOWN: 1 Spectre 2 Follower 3 Neon 4 True Grit 5 Vino 6 Isles 8 Breeze block 13 Nickname 14 TV dinner 15 Address 18 Image 20 Mood 21 Date QUICKIE ACROSS: 1 Crash helmet 8 Too 9 Lit 11 Walk out 12 Aisle 13 Axe 14 Elm 15 Caterer 17 Gel 19 Edit 21 Open 23 Have 25 Cube 27 Web 29 Nosebag 31 Era 34 Spa 36 Sense 37 Redhead 38 Set 39 Are 40 Disentangle DOWN: 1 Coax 2 Role 3 Storage 4 Hatred 5 Lease 6 Else 7 Till 8 Twang 10 Tempt 16 Rev 18 Lob 20 Dew 22 Pen 24 Aladdin 25 Chess 26 Ferret 28 Blade 30 Obese 32 Reed 33 Anti 34 Seal 35 Pare
Beginning his examination at the stock market crash and profiling the genre for the twenty-five years up to the introduction of the TV dinner, Heuser argues that the American radio play enjoyed a greater, unprecedented level of exposure than any other popular media in its time, and as such deserves a deeper contextual understanding in terms of both its content and its impact in American culture.
Research by npower also found 45% of people in Wales have the telly on to keep them company, more than one in 10 enjoys a TV dinner every night and 20% leave the TV on even when they are not watching it.
Transform your TV dinner into an in-flight extravaganza with the Pompeii set of five lacquered trays in anthracite, dijon, tomato red, mink and stone, pounds 35 from Habitat.
So check salt (sodium) levels before you pop a TV dinner in your shopping basket.
The work's title, TV Dinner, 2004, appears to be an example of Cannavacciuolo's ironic wit, which for me was lost in translation.
Spokeswoman Deborah Copeland said: "Our latest success in catching evaders confirms that the family meal has been replaced by the TV dinner.
The ocean is divided into four unequal basins separated by three roughly parallel mountain ranges on the seafloor--an arrangement that looks somewhat like an empty TV dinner tray.
We get what we deserve, the TV dinner society, only getting worked up when TV dinner chefs say anything of interest.
We held our first telly liveblog last week for the X Factor showdown as Sam discussed the relative merits of Alexandra, JLS, Eoghan - and the contents of her TV dinner.
A GENERATION of "TV dinner toddlers" risk growing up lacking vital social skills, according to new research.