leftover

nounB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,687 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: leftovers

A leftover is food or material remaining after the rest is used. Eat the leftovers, leftover paint, a leftover from the war.

Cooling and storing leftovers within a couple of hours is what keeps them safe, and reheating them thoroughly matters more than how long they have been in the fridge. As an adjective it also means surviving from an earlier time.

Definitions of leftover

1nounleftoverFood or material remaining after the rest is used.B1+
“We had the leftovers from Sunday's roast for lunch on Monday.”

leftover is a remainder.

Where it comes from

Left plus over, from the phrase to be left over. The noun is nineteenth-century.

Built from

left · English — remaining, abandoned
over · English — excess

From left (“remaining, abandoned”) + over (“excess”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

leftover in the wild

Inedible remains like bones are considered waste, not leftovers.
Leftovers
Depending on the situation, the amount of food, and the type of food, leftovers may be saved or thrown away.
Leftovers
The rice used is preferably stale, usually leftover cooked rice from the previous day, as it results in rice that is slightly fermented and firmer.
Sinangag
Sinangag is a common part of a traditional Filipino breakfast and is usually prepared with leftover rice from the dinner before.
Sinangag

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the left family

left

leftover — used about once every 2,773 pages · #7,687 · point at the bar for the others

← Vocabulary