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al desko

/æl ˈdɛskoʊ/
IPA guide

When office workers eat their lunch in front of their computer screens, without taking a break, they dine al desko.

You eat al desko whenever you continue working right through lunchtime, sitting at your desk. This humorous term was coined in Britain during the 1980s, ironically modeled after alfresco, "outdoors" or "in the fresh air." Dining al desko is more or less the opposite of a leisurely lunch at a sidewalk cafe — it means eating your sandwich or salad while hunched over a keyboard rather than taking time to pause and enjoy the meal.

Definitions of al desko
  1. adjective
    relating to eating food while working at one's station
  2. adverb
    at one's working station while eating food
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