[feest] 
| 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. |
| 5. | to have or partake of a feast; eat sumptuously. |
| 6. | to dwell with gratification or delight, as on a picture or view. |
| 7. | to provide or entertain with a feast. |
| 8. | feast one's eyes, to gaze with great joy, admiration, or relish: to feast one's eyes on the Grand Canyon. |
| feast (fēst) n.
v. tr. To give a feast for; entertain or feed sumptuously: feasted the guests on venison. v. intr.
[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. |
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.)
feast
day or period of time set aside to commemorate, ritually celebrate or reenact, or anticipate events or seasons-agricultural, religious, or sociocultural-that give meaning and cohesiveness to an individual and to the religious, political, or socioeconomic community. Because such days or periods generally originated in religious celebrations or ritual commemorations that usually included sacred community meals, they are called feasts or festivals.
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