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repast

[noun ri-past, -pahst, ree-past, -pahst; verb ri-past, -pahst]
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noun
  1. a quantity of food taken or provided for one occasion of eating: to eat a light repast.
  2. a meal: the evening repast.
  3. the time during which a meal is eaten; mealtime.
  4. Archaic. the taking of food, as at a meal.
  5. Obsolete. food.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to eat or feast (often followed by on or upon).
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Origin of repast

1300–50; Middle English (noun) < Old French, derivative (compare past < Latin pāstus fodder) of repaistre to eat a meal < Late Latin repāscere to feed regularly, equivalent to Latin re- re- + pāscere to feed (cf. pasture)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

feedfaresnackgrubvictualsfoodfeasteatsrefreshmentmessspreadchowbanquetrefection

Examples from the Web for repast

Historical Examples

  • Sometimes they slay their own wives, and invite their neighbours to the repast.

    Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. II

    Francis Augustus Cox

  • Will you not honour us so far as to sit down with us and share our repast?'

    Micah Clarke

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • When the officers learned that I was a Russian, they invited me to share their repast.

  • They eventually settled on a restaurant and ordered their repast.

    Cleo The Magnificent

    Louis Zangwill

  • She lays the tray before her son and invites me to partake of the repast.

    The Book of Khalid

    Ameen Rihani

British Dictionary definitions for repast

repast

noun
  1. a meal or the food provided at a meala light repast
  2. archaic
    1. food in general; nourishment
    2. the act of taking food or refreshment
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verb
  1. (intr) archaic to feed (on)
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Word Origin

C14: from Old French, from repaistre to feed, from Late Latin repāscere to nourish again, from Latin re- + pāscere to feed, pasture (of animals)
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 repast

n.

late 14c., from Old French repast (Modern Frech repas) "a meal, food," from Late Latin repastus "meal" (also source of Spanish repasto, noun use of past participle of repascere "to feed again," from Latin re- "repeatedly" (see re-) + pascere "to graze" (see pastor). The verb (intransitive) is from late 15c.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper