Feast definition |Dictionary.com

Feast

10 dictionary results for: Feast

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

feast

[feest] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	any rich or abundant meal: The steak dinner was a feast.

2.	a sumptuous entertainment or meal for many guests: a wedding feast.

3.	something highly agreeable: The Rembrandt exhibition was a feast for the eyes.

4.	a periodical celebration or time of celebration, usually of a religious nature, commemorating an event, person, etc.: Every year, in September, the townspeople have a feast in honor of their patron saint.

–verb (used without object)

5.	to have or partake of a feast; eat sumptuously.

6.	to dwell with gratification or delight, as on a picture or view.

–verb (used with object)

7.	to provide or entertain with a feast.

—Idiom

8.	feast one's eyes, to gaze with great joy, admiration, or relish: to feast one's eyes on the Grand Canyon.

[Origin: 1150–1200; ME feste < OF < L fésta, neut. pl. (taken as fem. sing. n.) of féstus festal, festive, equiv. to fés- (akin to fair²) + -tus adj. suffix

]

—Related forms

feaster, noun

feastless, adjective

—Synonyms 2. Feast, banquet imply large social events, with an abundance of food. A feast is a meal with a plenteous supply of food and drink for a large company: to provide a feast for all company employees. A banquet is an elaborate feast for a formal and ceremonious occasion: the main speaker at a banquet.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

feast (fēst) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. A large, elaborately prepared meal, usually for many persons and often accompanied by entertainment; a banquet.
2. A meal that is well prepared and abundantly enjoyed.
A periodic religious festival commemorating an event or honoring a god or saint.
Something giving great pleasure or satisfaction: a book that is a veritable feast for the mind.

v.   feast·ed, feast·ing, feasts

v.   tr.
To give a feast for; entertain or feed sumptuously: feasted the guests on venison.

v.   intr.

To partake of a feast; eat heartily.
To experience something with gratification or delight: feasted on the view.

[Middle English feste, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *fēsta, from Latin, pl. of fēstum, from fēstus, festive; see dhēs- in Indo-European roots.]

feast'er n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
feast (n.)

c.1200, from O.Fr. feste "festival, feast," from V.L. *festa (fem. sing.), from L. festa "holidays, feasts," from neut. pl. of festus "festive, joyful, merry," related to feriæ "holiday" and fanum "temple." The spelling -ea- was used in M.E. to represent the sound we mis-call "long e." The verb first attested c.1300.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

feast
noun
1.	a ceremonial dinner party for many people [syn: banquet]
2.	something experienced with great delight; "a feast for the eyes"
3.	a meal that is well prepared and greatly enjoyed; "a banquet for the graduating seniors"; "the Thanksgiving feast"; "they put out quite a spread" [syn: banquet]
4.	an elaborate party (often outdoors) [syn: fete]
verb
1.	partake in a feast or banquet
2.	provide a feast or banquet for
3.	gratify; "feed one's eyes on a gorgeous view" [syn: feed]

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feast

Ca*rous"al\, n. [See Carouse, but also cf. F. carrousel tilt.] A jovial feast or festival; a drunken revel; a carouse.

The swains were preparing for a carousal. --Sterne.

Syn: Banquet; revel; orgie; carouse. See Feast.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feast

Fair\, n. [OE. feire, OF. feire, F. foire, fr. L. fariae, pl., days of rest, holidays, festivals, akin to festus festal. See Feast.]

1. A gathering of buyers and sellers, assembled at a particular place with their merchandise at a stated or regular season, or by special appointment, for trade.

2. A festival, and sale of fancy articles. erc., usually for some charitable object; as, a Grand Army fair.

3. A competitive exhibition of wares, farm products, etc., not primarily for purposes of sale; as, the Mechanics' fair; an agricultural fair.

After the fair, Too late. [Colloq.]

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feast

Feast\ (f[=e]st), n. [OE. feste festival, holiday, feast, OF. feste festival, F. f[^e]te, fr. L. festum, pl. festa, fr. festus joyful, festal; of uncertain origin. Cf. Fair, n., Festal, F[^e]te.]

1. A festival; a holiday; a solemn, or more commonly, a joyous, anniversary.

The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. --Ex. xiii. 6.

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. --Luke ii. 41.

Note: Ecclesiastical fasts are called immovable when they always occur on the same day of the year; otherwise they are called movable.

2. A festive or joyous meal; a grand, ceremonious, or sumptuous entertainment, of which many guests partake; a banquet characterized by tempting variety and abundance of food.

Enough is as good as a feast. --Old Proverb.

Belshazzar the King made a great feast to a thousand of his lords. --Dan. v. 1.

3. That which is partaken of, or shared in, with delight; something highly agreeable; entertainment.

The feast of reason, and the flow of soul. --Pope.

Feast day, a holiday; a day set as a solemn commemo?ative festival.

Syn: Entertainment; regale; banquet; treat; carousal; festivity; festival.

Usage: Feast, Banquet, Festival, Carousal. A feast sets before us viands superior in quantity, variety, and abudance; a banquet is a luxurious feast; a festival is the joyful celebration by good cheer of some agreeable event. Carousal is unrestrained indulgence in frolic and drink.

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Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Feast

as a mark of hospitality (Gen. 19:3; 2 Sam. 3:20; 2 Kings 6:23); on occasions of domestic joy (Luke 15:23; Gen. 21:8); on birthdays (Gen. 40:20; Job 1:4; Matt. 14:6); and on the occasion of a marriage (Judg. 14:10; Gen. 29:22). Feasting was a part of the observances connected with the offering up of sacrifices (Deut. 12:6, 7; 1 Sam. 9:19; 16:3, 5), and with the annual festivals (Deut. 16:11). "It was one of the designs of the greater solemnities, which required the attendance of the people at the sacred tent, that the oneness of the nation might be maintained and cemented together, by statedly congregating in one place, and with one soul taking part in the same religious services. But that oneness was primarily and chiefly a religious and not merely a political one; the people were not merely to meet as among themselves, but with Jehovah, and to present themselves before him as one body; the meeting was in its own nature a binding of themselves in fellowship with Jehovah; so that it was not politics and commerce that had here to do, but the soul of the Mosaic dispensation, the foundation of the religious and political existence of Israel, the covenant with Jehovah. To keep the people's consciousness alive to this, to revive, strengthen, and perpetuate it, nothing could be so well adapated as these annual feasts." (See FESTIVALS.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

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Acronym Finder - Cite This Source - Share This

FEAST

FEAST: in Acronym Finder

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