wine and dine

Meaning

This expression means to entertain someone with expensive food and drink, often in order to please them or win their favor. It is frequently used in business contexts when trying to impress potential clients, but it can also apply to romantic dates.

Examples

• The company spent thousands of dollars to wine and dine their prospective clients.

  The company spent thousands of dollars to wine and dine their prospective clients.

• He wanted to wine and dine her at the most expensive restaurant in the city.

  He wanted to wine and dine her at the most expensive restaurant in the city.

• We were wined and dined by the hosts during our entire stay in Paris.

  We were wined and dined by the hosts during our entire stay in Paris.

• You don't need to wine and dine me; a simple pizza and a movie will do.

  You don't need to wine and dine me; a simple pizza and a movie will do.

• They love to wine and dine their friends whenever they host a dinner party.

  They love to wine and dine their friends whenever they host a dinner party.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ We went to wine and food our new business partners.

  ✓ We went to wine and dine our new business partners.

  The phrase is a fixed idiom. You cannot replace 'dine' with 'food' or other synonyms.

• ✗ They wined and dined us to a luxury restaurant.

  ✓ They wined and dined us at a luxury restaurant.

  Use the preposition 'at' or 'in' to specify the location where the dining happened, not 'to'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• The agency plans to ___ the new sponsors to secure the contract.

  💡 To entertain with food and drinks to impress.

  Show answer

  wine and dine

• We were ___ at a five-star hotel last night.

  💡 Past participle form of the idiom.

  Show answer

  wined and dined