You are not quite correct. Supper can be eaten before dinner.
Terminology of meals:
Get me away from this hot darn oven! During the colonial days of US history, memoirs and letters mention only three meals daily-breakfast, tea and dinner. Apparently the urgency of making a farm produce in those days was so important, that work could only be stopped for two meals daily-breakfast & dinner, with a break in the afternoon for tea and a snack. Documents of the wealthy classes and European merchant classes mention supper as well, a meal taken before retiring, as dinner was usually eaten earlier than today–usually around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon.
During the mid 1800s, mention is made of up to five meals a day, particularly among the wealthier classes both North & South (but especially in the Northern states). These meals were Breakfast, Luncheon, Tea, Dinner and Supper. Both Dinner and Supper parties were mentioned in letters and memoirs.
The dinner party was a more formal affair, that lasted for up to three hours (!), featuring many courses and agonizingly long conversations. It took up most of the late afternoon and evening. The supper party was usually given during a dance or entertainment, and consisted of a light meal late in the evening.
But I digress, on to the “meat & potatoes” of our discussion:
Working class folks contented themselves with three main meals a day. Breakfast, Supper & Dinner.
Breakfast was always the morning meal.
Dinner was the largest meal of the day and Supper was considered a lighter meal (usually cold meats or leftovers). But here comes the area where much confusion arises: Depending on the circ*mstance of the diners, Dinner was eaten as the mid-day meal OR as the evening meal. Supper & Dinner were interchangeable.
Here is the qualifier:
In households with a cook or servant, Dinner was usually the evening meal, and was enjoyed at the end of the day. The householders considered it the duty of the cook to keep the fires burning, the stove going, and to prepare three hot meals a day. Supper, the lighter meal, was usually eaten in the afternoon.
In households where the wife cooked, Dinner was often eaten in the middle of the day, and Supper was the evening meal. The reason for this practice was practicality.
It took alot of effort and skill to keep a fireplace or cook stove heated with a nice, even heat for cooking. The housewife got the stove going to prepare breakfast ,which was usually quite a substantial meal to keep the menfolk working all day. Since the stove was already hot, she began to cook dinner as soon as breakfast was done. (There were no instant foods, and preparation usually included hours of slow cooking). This allowed her to serve the big meal at mid-day, at which time she could let the stove go out,
