feast

[ feest ]

noun

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.

verb (used without object)

1. to have or partake of a feast; eat sumptuously.
2. to dwell with gratification or delight, as on a picture or view.

verb (used with object)

1. to provide or entertain with a feast.

feast

/ fiːst /

noun

1. a large and sumptuous meal, usually given as an entertainment for several people
2. a periodic religious celebration
3. something extremely pleasing or sumptuous

   a feast for the eyes

4. movable feast
   a festival or other event of variable date

verb

1. intr
   1. to eat a feast
   2. usually foll by on to enjoy the eating (of), as if feasting

      to feast on cakes

2. tr to give a feast to
3. intrfoll byon to take great delight (in)

   to feast on beautiful paintings

4. tr to regale or delight

   to feast one's mind or one's eyes

Derived Forms

• ˈfeaster, noun

Other Words From

• feaster noun
• feastless adjective
• outfeast verb (used with object)
• over·feast verb
• pre·feast noun
• un·feasted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of feast¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English feste, from Old French, from Latin fēsta, neuter plural (reinterpteted as feminine singular noun in Vulgar Latin ) of fēstus “festal, festive,” equivalent to fēs- (akin to fair ² ) + -tus adjective suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of feast¹

C13: from Old French feste , from Latin festa , neuter plural (later assumed to be feminine singular) of festus joyful; related to Latin fānum temple, fēriae festivals

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. feast one's eyes, to gaze with great joy, admiration, or relish:

   to feast one's eyes on the Grand Canyon.

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

In deep water, where relatively few animals live, the feast may last for years.

From Science News For Students

One day, she wins the lottery, and instead of using the money to finally go back home, she uses it to prepare a lavish feast in honor of the sect’s founder.

From Vox

A feast of comedies, dramas, documentaries, and more to stream at home.

From Vox

Here are 10 great films you can stream about feasts, food, family, and what cooking and eating teach us about being human.

From Vox

Eager as ad buyers were for major sports like the NBA and NFL to return to TV, many were anxious about how the volume of sports on TV going from famine to feast would affect viewership.

From Digiday

It was known as the feast of Akitu, and it was celebrated in April.

From The Daily Beast

The mythic origin of the feast was the creation of the world by the god Marduk.

From The Daily Beast

Given the somewhat macabre origins of the feast, many of the celebrations were designed to placate the gods.

From The Daily Beast

Feast your eyes on the ‘top-grain leather,’ ‘original’ design, gilded pages.

From The Daily Beast

Then feast your ears on this 1969 Bill Cosby routine about drugging and seducing women.

From The Daily Beast

In both cases the decision was made at a feast, and in favour of the one who “loved much.”

From Project Gutenberg

They were just about to celebrate tabagie, or a solemn feast, over his last farewell.

From Project Gutenberg

In the spring of 1880 she went again to Paris, only to "feast on things artistic."

From Project Gutenberg

Death comes in, the bread at the feast turns black, the hound falls down—and so on.

From Project Gutenberg

But strangest of all the dishes at the Tagal's feast was one prepared from a kind of beetle.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dine
• entertain