Quick Definition
ἀνάκειμαι v. I recline, especially at a dinner-table
Strong's Definition
from 303 and 2749; to recline (as a corpse or at a meal)
KJV Usage: guest, lean, lie, sit (down, at meat), at the table
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
verb | κεῖμαι
17.23 · Stances and Events Related to Stances · Recline [to eat]
to recline, to eat, to be at table, to eat, to dine, to sit down to eat to be in a reclining position as one eats (with the focus either upon the position or the act of eating)
MAT 22:10 · MAT 22:11 · MAT 26:7 · MAT 26:20 · MRK 14:18 · LUK 22:27 · LUK 22:27 · JHN 6:11 · JHN 12:2 · JHN 13:28
23.21 · Physiological Processes and States · Eat, Drink
to eat a meal to eat a meal, with possible reference to the fact of the people reclining to eat In biblical times there were apparently three different positions involved in the eating of a meal. People might, for example, (1) be seated on cushions around a low table or (2) be seated on chairs around a table or (3) recline on couches facing a table. Meals which involved reclining on couches would normally have been more elaborate, but the verbs ἀνάκειμαι[b] and κατάκειμαι[c] have been generalized in meaning to denote the eating of a meal without necessarily specifying the particular reclining position of those who participated in the meal.
For the translator, it may be extremely awkward to speak of ‘reclining to eat,’ since this may have connotations of people who are too lazy to sit up at the table or who are too sick to partake of an ordinary meal. It is for that reason that instead of rendering ἀνάκειμαι[b] or κατάκειμαι[c] as ‘to recline to eat,’ translators use expressions such as ‘to sit down to eat’ or ‘to eat a meal.’
17.25 · Stances and Events Related to Stances · Recline [to eat]
Collocation: ἀνάκειμαι ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ
to dine in the place of honor (an idiom, literally: to recline on the bosom) to take the place of honor at a meal These expressions in JHN 13:23 and JHN 13:25 would mean that the so-called ‘beloved disciple’ would be at the right of Jesus, since guests at a meal would be reclining on the left side so as to permit freedom of the right hand in dining. It may, of course, be that the same expression could be used of persons sitting at a table rather than reclining on couches.
Literal translations of ἀνάκειμαι ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ and ἀναπίπτω ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος can result in serious misunderstanding, since they might imply overt homosexuality. There is no justification for reading into such idioms this type of implication.
1 One would assume that ἀνάκειμαι[b] and κατάκειμαι[c] would have almost opposite meanings in view of the prefixes ἀνα and κατα. It is, of course, possible that ἀνάκειμαι[b] refers to being propped up on a couch where one was eating and κατάκειμαι[c] refers specifically to reclining, that is to say, lying down, but the contexts in which these two expressions occur do not provide a clear basis for such a distinction in meaning. In fact, the two are largely generalized to simply mean to eat a meal, though their etymological history may be significantly different.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
ἀνά-κειμαι ; [impf. 3 pers. sing. ἀνέκειτο] ; depon. mid. to be laid up, laid: Mk. v. 40 R Lbr. [ef. Eng. to lay out]. In later Grk. to lie at table (on the lectus tricliniaris (ef. B.D. s. v. Meals]; the earlier Greeks used κεῖσθαι, κατακεῖσθαι. cf. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 216 sq.; Fritzsche [or Wetst.] on Mt. ix. 10): Mt. ix. 10; xxii. 10 sq.; xxvi. 7,20; Mk. [vi. 26 T Tr WH]; xiv. 18; xvi. 14; Lk. vii. 37 (LT Tr WH κατάκειται) ; xxii. 27; Jn. xii. 2 (Rec. Generally, to eat together, to Comp.: συν-ανάovvavakeip.) ; Xill. 23, 28. dine: Jn. vi. 11. [Cf. ἀναπίπτω, fin. κειμαι.}
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
ἀνάκειμαι anakeimai 14x
to be laid up, as offerings; later, to lie, recline at table, Mt. 9:10
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
** ἀνά-κειμαι
[in LXX: I Es 4:10, To 9:6 א*;]
in cl., as pass. of ἀνατίθημ, to be laid up, laid: Mk 5:40 Rec.
In late writers (cf. MM, VGT, s.v.) = κεῖσθαι, κατακεῖσθαι, to recline at table: Mt 26:20; part. ἀνακείμενος, Mt 9:10 22:10, 11 26:7, Mk 6:26 14:18 16:14, Lk 22:27, Jo 6:11 12:2 13:23, 28.†
SYN.: ἀνακλίνω, ἀναπίπτω, the latter denoting an act rather than a state and thus in Jo 13:25 differing from ἀνάκειμαι (see. Jo 13:23) by indicating a change of position.
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
ἀνάκειμαι. For the sense accumbere (Jn 611, etc.), which does not seem to be older than the Macedonian period, may be cited BGU I. 344 (ii/iii aA.b.), a list of names of of ἀνακίμενοι, and ending γίνονδαι ἄνδρες ἀναγείμενου (!) pf. The verb occurs in the more ordinary sense, as passive to ἀνατίθημι, in the great Ephesian inscr., Sy//7 6 5645 (ii/A.D.) ἀνακεῖσθαι τῇ θεῷ (‘be dedicated”), of the month Artemision (so also 1. §), The same meaning appears in 2b 8274 καθιερωμένων kal ἀνακειμένων τῆι Οὐρανίαι ᾿Αφροδίτει (i/8.C.).
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
ἀνάκειμαι (anakeimai) — to recline. ἀνάκειμαι, poetry ἄγκ-, serving as passive to ἀνατίθημι, to be laid up as a votive offering in the temple, to be dedicated, κρητῆρές οἱ.. ἓξ χρύσεοι ἀνακέαται[Refs 5th c.BC+]; λόγος τῷ θεῷ ἀ, [Refs 5th c.BC+] __b to be set up as a statue in public, Σόλων ἀνάκειται παράδειγμα[Refs 4th c.BC+]
2. to be ascribed or offered, αἱ πράξεις ἀ. τινι[Refs 1st c.AD+]
II. πᾶν or πάντα ἀνάκειται ἔς τινα everything is referred to a person, depends on his will, [Refs 5th c.BC+] since they had their whole fortunes depending on their ships, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of persons, σοὶ ἀνακείμεσθα[Refs 5th c.BC+]; εἰς θάνατον ἦν ἀνακείμενα τοῖς ἀλογήσασι the death penalty was reserved for.., [Refs 1st c.AD+]
II.2. to be put aside, ταῦτα ἀνακείσθω[Refs 4th c.AD+]
III. lie at table, recline, [NT+5th c.BC+]