banquet
[bang-kwit]
- a lavish meal; feast.
- a ceremonious public dinner, especially one honoring a person, benefiting a charity, etc.
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- to entertain or regale with a banquet: They banqueted the visiting prime minister in grand style.
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- to have or attend a banquet; feast: They banqueted on pheasant, wild boar, and three kinds of fish.
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Origin of banquet
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com1. See feast.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for banquet
Contemporary Examples
The banquet was paid for with public funds, and taxpayers were understandably upset.
A table creaking under the weight of a Christmas banquet, a classic celebration of binge eating and drinking.
Another island tale purports that there was once a banquet arranged at the manor for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
These are the reasons why Marzel tapped me on the shoulder at a Kahanist banquet—I was a Kahanist posterboy.
“You are my hero,” said Baruch Marzel, the militant leader of the Jewish National Front, as he embraced me at a banquet in 2006.
Historical Examples
The banquet drew to its conclusion, and the guests departed.
The Christmas Banquet (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")Nathaniel Hawthorne
For this purpose, my honored guests, I have ordered a banquet to be prepared.
Tanglewood TalesNathaniel Hawthorne
Then wine was brought in, and the banquet was served to the sound of music.
The Chinese Fairy BookVarious
When the banquet was ended he slept in the Palace of Frozen Radiance.
The Chinese Fairy BookVarious
Tents were put up on the edge of the saucer and a banquet was prepared.
The Chinese Fairy BookVarious
banquet
- a lavish and sumptuous meal; feast
- a ceremonial meal for many people, often followed by speeches
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- (intr) to hold or take part in a banquet
- (tr) to entertain or honour (a person) with a banquet
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Word Origin
C15: from Old French, from Italian banchetto, from banco a table, of Germanic origin; see bank 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for banquet
n.
late 15c., "feast, sumptuous entertainment," from French banquet (15c.; in Old French only "small bench"), from Old Italian banchetto, diminutive of banco "bench;" originally a snack eaten on a bench (rather than at table), hence "a slight repast between meals;" the meaning has entirely reversed. As a verb from 1510s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper