picnic

/ˌpɪkˈnɪk/

/ˈpɪknɪk/

Other forms: picnics; picnicking; picnicked

A picnic is a meal that you eat outside. For your birthday, you might take a picnic lunch (including celebratory cupcakes) to a nearby beach with some friends.

You can use the word picnic for both the occasion — "Let's go on a picnic!" — and for the meal itself: "I am packing the best picnic to take on our hike." It's also a verb, meaning "to eat outside." And when a friend describes a difficult task and adds, "It was no picnic," they mean to emphasize how hard it was — the opposite of an easy, breezy picnic.

Definitions of picnic

1. noun

   any informal meal eaten outside or on an excursion
   types:

   cookout

   an informal meal cooked and eaten outdoors

   BBQ, barbecue, barbeque

   a cookout in which food is cooked over an open fire; especially a whole animal carcass roasted on a spit

   clambake

   a cookout at the seashore where clams and fish and other foods are cooked--usually on heated stones covered with seaweed

   fish fry

   a cookout where fried fish is the main course

   weenie roast, wiener roast

   a cookout where roasted frankfurters are the main course

   burgoo

   a gathering at which burgoo stew is served

   type of:

   meal, repast

   the food served and eaten at one time
2. noun

   a day devoted to an outdoor social gathering
   synonyms: field day, outing

   type of:

   holiday, vacation

   leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure
3. noun

   any undertaking that is easy to do
   “marketing this product will be no picnic”

   synonyms: breeze, child's play, cinch, duck soup, piece of cake, pushover, snap, walkover

   types:

   doddle

   an easy task

   type of:

   labor, project, task, undertaking

   any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted
4. verb

   eat alfresco, in the open air
   “We picnicked near the lake on this gorgeous Sunday”

   type of:

   eat

   eat a meal; take a meal