feast
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word feast. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word feast, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say feast in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word feast you have here. The definition of the word feast will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition offeast, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Feast
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English feeste, feste, borrowed from Old French feste, from Late Latin festa, from the plural of Latin festum (“holiday, festival, feast”), from Proto-Italic *fēs-tos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s (“god, godhead, deity”); see also Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god, goddess”). More at theo-. Doublet of fete, fiesta, and fest.
Noun
feast (plural feasts)
- A very large meal, often of a ceremonial nature.
- We had a feast to celebrate the harvest.
- Something delightful
- It was a feast for the eyes.
- A festival; a holy day or holiday; a solemn, or more commonly, a joyous, anniversary.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Exodus 13:6:
- The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Luke 2:41:
- Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
Synonyms
Derived terms
- a contented mind is a perpetual feast
- afterfeast
- Barmecide feast
- bean-feast
- bean feast
- bull feast
- double feast
- Dutch feast
- enough is as good as a feast
- feast day
- feaster
- feast for the eyes
- feastful
- feastly
- Feast of Asses
- Feast of Fools
- Feast of Light
- Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
- Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels
- Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
- Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
- Feast of Trumpets
- Feast of Tsing Ming
- Feast of Weeks
- feast one's eyes
- feast or famine
- feasty
- fixed feast
- forefeast
- ghost at the feast
- Great Feasts
- love feast
- midnight feast
- movable feast
- moveable feast
- postfeast
- run feast
- silver feast
- silver-feast
- skeleton at the feast
- smell-feast
- specter at the feast
- spectre at the feast
Translations
large, often ceremonial meal
|
something delightful
|
festival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Etymology 2
From Middle English feesten, festen, from Old French fester, from Medieval Latin festāre, from the noun. See above.
Verb
feast (third-person singular simple present feasts, present participle feasting, simple past and past participle feasted)
- (intransitive) To partake in a feast, or large meal.
- I feasted on turkey and dumplings.
- (intransitive) To dwell upon (something) with delight.
- 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 47”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. , London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
- With my love's picture then my eye doth feast.
- (transitive) To hold a feast in honor of (someone).
- 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- He that shall see this day, and live old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors
And say “Tomorrow is Saint Crispian.”
- We feasted them after the victory.
- (transitive, obsolete) To serve as a feast for; to feed sumptuously.
- 1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum
- Or once a week, perhaps, for novelty / Reez'd bacon-soords shall feast his family.
- 1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum
Derived terms
Translations
to partake in a feast
to hold a feast in honor of someone
|