surfeit definition | Dictionary.com

sur⋅feit

[sur-fit]

–noun

1.	excess; an excessive amount: a surfeit of speechmaking.

2.	excess or overindulgence in eating or drinking.

3.	an uncomfortably full or crapulous feeling due to excessive eating or drinking.

4.	general disgust caused by excess or satiety.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to bring to a state of surfeit by excess of food or drink.

6.	to supply with anything to excess or satiety; satiate.

–verb (used without object)

7.	to eat or drink to excess.

8.	to suffer from the effects of overindulgence in eating or drinking.

9.	to indulge to excess in anything.

Origin:
1250–1300; (n.) ME sorfete, surfait < MF surfait, surfet (n. use of ptp. of surfaire to overdo), equiv. to sur- sur- ¹ + fait < L factus, ptp. of facere to do (see fact ); (v.) sorfeten, deriv. of the n.

Synonyms:
1. superabundance, superfluity. 5, 6. stuff, gorge. 6. fill.

Antonyms:
1. lack.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To surfeit

sur·feit (sûr'fĭt)

v.   sur·feit·ed, sur·feit·ing, sur·feits

v.   tr.
To feed or supply to excess, satiety, or disgust.
v.   intr. Archaic
To overindulge.
n.

1. Overindulgence in food or drink.
2. The result of such overindulgence; satiety or disgust.
An excessive amount.

[Middle English surfeten, from surfait, excess, from Old French, from past participle of surfaire, to overdo : sur-, sur- + faire, to do (from Latin facere; see dhē- in Indo-European roots).]
sur'feit·er n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Main Entry:	surfeit¹
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	overabundance; excess
Etymology:	Latin super- + facere 'to do, act'

Main Entry:	surfeit²
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	an excessive indulgence, esp. in food or drink; also, the excessive amount eaten
Etymology:	Latin super- + facere 'to do, act'

Main Entry:	surfeit³
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	a disgust with excess; nausea
Etymology:	Latin super- + facere 'to do, act'

Main Entry:	surfeit
Part of Speech:	v
Definition:	to indulge the appetite or senses
Etymology:	Latin super- + facere 'to do, act'

Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon
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Surfeit

Sur"feit\, n. [OE. surfet, OF. surfait, sorfait, excess, arrogance, crime, fr. surfaire, sorfaire, to augment, exaggerate, F. surfaire to overcharge; sur over + faire to make, do, L. facere. See Sur-, and Fact.]

1. Excess in eating and drinking.

Let not Sir Surfeit sit at thy board. --Piers Plowman.

Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made. --Shak.

2. Fullness and oppression of the system, occasioned often by excessive eating and drinking.

To prevent surfeit and other diseases that are incident to those that heat their blood by travels. --Bunyan.

3. Disgust caused by excess; satiety. --Sir P. Sidney.

Matter and argument have been supplied abundantly, and even to surfeit. --Burke.

Surfeit

Sur"feit\, v. i. 1. To load the stomach with food, so that sickness or uneasiness ensues; to eat to excess.

They are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing. --Shak.

2. To indulge to satiety in any gratification.

Surfeit

Sur"feit\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Surfeited; p. pr. & vb. n. Surfeiting.]

1. To feed so as to oppress the stomach and derange the function of the system; to overfeed, and produce satiety, sickness, or uneasiness; -- often reflexive; as, to surfeit one's self with sweets.

2. To fill to satiety and disgust; to cloy; as, he surfeits us with compliments. --V. Knox.

surfeit (n.)

c.1300, from O.Fr. surfet "excess," noun use of pp. of surfaire "overdo," from sur- "over" + faire "do," from L. facere "to make" (see factitious). The verb is first recorded 1393.

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