surfeit

[ sur-fit ]

noun

1. excess; an excessive amount:

   a surfeit of speechmaking.

   Synonyms: superabundance, superfluity

   Antonyms: lack

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)

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

   Synonyms: gorge, stuff

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

   Synonyms: fill, gorge, stuff

verb (used without object)

1. to eat or drink to excess.
2. to suffer from the effects of overindulgence in eating or drinking.
3. to indulge to excess in anything.

surfeit

/ ˈsɜːfɪt /

noun

1. usually foll by of an excessive or immoderate amount
2. overindulgence, esp in eating or drinking
3. disgust, nausea, etc, caused by such overindulgence

verb

1. tr to supply or feed excessively; satiate
2. archaic.
   intr to eat, drink, or be supplied to excess
3. obsolete.
   intr to feel uncomfortable as a consequence of overindulgence

Derived Forms

• ˈsurfeiter, noun

Other Words From

• un·surfeit·ed adjective
• un·surfeit·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of surfeit¹

1250–1300; (noun) Middle English sorfete, surfait < Middle French surfait, surfet (noun use of past participle of surfaire to overdo), equivalent to sur- sur- ¹ + fait < Latin factus, past participle of facere to do ( fact ); (v.) sorfeten, derivative of the noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of surfeit¹

C13: from French surfait, from surfaire to overdo, from sur- ¹+ faire, from Latin facere to do

Example Sentences

Both on and off the hill, you’ll find a vibrant, joyful surfeit of international ski bums and upper-crust ski culture crammed happily into a few isolated buildings and some of the most glorious ski runs in the world.

From Outside Online

In fact, a surfeit of low gears can even act to undermine your morale.

From Outside Online

There are no wrenching epiphanies, just mild embarrassments and a surfeit of confusion.

From The Daily Beast

The culture wars have presented us with a surfeit of either/ors.

From The Daily Beast

They drank till from very surfeit they fell down stricken; and three hundred died, slain by the element of life.

From Project Gutenberg

Then the wild beasts hid in the thickets made of them a prey, and they who escaped this evil, perished from the poison of surfeit.

From Project Gutenberg

She would have preferred open, antagonistic originality, but she got a surfeit of clear, mirror-like peace.

From Project Gutenberg

People were no longer sickened by sloth and surfeit, or deformed and depleted by overwork and famine.

From Project Gutenberg

He smelt the Prince's breath, and swore that it stank of a surfeit of undigested Martellian verses.

From Project Gutenberg