1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Victual

VICTUAL, food, provisions, most commonly in the plural, “victuals.” The word and its pronunciation came into English from the O. Fr. vitaille. The modern French and English spelling are due to a pedantic approximation to the Latin original, victualia, a neuter plural substantive formed from victualis, victus, nourishment, provisions (vivere, to live). The most familiar use of the term is in “licensed victualler,” to which the Licensing Act 1872 (§ 27) has applied the wide significance of any person selling any intoxicating liquor under a licence from a justice of the peace. Properly a “victualling house” is one where persons are provided with food and drink but not lodgings, and is thus distinct from an inn, which also provides the last.