feast
[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. |
1150–1200; ME feste < OF < L fēsta, neut. pl. (taken as fem. sing. n.) of fēstus festal, festive, equiv. to fēs- (akin to fair 2 ) + -tus adj. suffix
Related forms:
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.
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
| 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. |
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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.Feast
Feast\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Feasted; p. pr. & vb. n. Feasting.] [OE. festen, cf. OF. fester to rest from work, F. f[^e]ter to celebrate a holiday. See Feast, n.]1. To eat sumptuously; to dine or sup on rich provisions, particularly in large companies, and on public festivals. And his sons went and feasted in their houses. --Job. i. 4. 2. To be highly gratified or delighted. With my love's picture then my eye doth feast. --Shak.Feast
Feast\, v. t. 1. To entertain with sumptuous provisions; to treat at the table bountifully; as, he was feasted by the king. --Hayward. 2. To delight; to gratify; as, to feast the soul. Feast your ears with the music a while. --Shak.Cite This Source
feast (n.)
Cite This Source
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.)
Cite This Source
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.
Learn more about feast with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
