Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

surfeit

[sur-fit]
noun
  1. excess; an excessive amount: a surfeit of speechmaking.
  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.
Show More
verb (used with object)
  1. to bring to a state of surfeit by excess of food or drink.
  2. to supply with anything to excess or satiety; satiate.
Show More
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.
Show More

Origin of surfeit

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 (see fact); (v.) sorfeten, derivative of the noun
Related formsun·sur·feit·ed, adjectiveun·sur·feit·ing, adjective

Synonyms

1. superabundance, superfluity. 5, 6. stuff, gorge. 6. fill.

Antonyms

1. lack.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

profusion, glut, plethora, saturation, surplus, overabundance, plenitude, superabundance, overmuch, overindulgence, satisfaction, superfluity, repletion, satiety, overflow, remainder, bellyful, overplus, overkill, satisfy

Examples from the Web for surfeiting

Historical Examples

  • I am the same as when you knew me, almost to a surfeiting identity.

    Mary Lamb

    Anne Burrows Gilchrist

  • But the idle, starving slave is a danger to the idle, surfeiting master.

    Communism and Christianism

    William Montgomery Brown

  • “Not in surfeiting and wantonness, not in causality and uncleanness,” with what follows.

  • You know the admonitions of Scripture,—Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and   drunkenness.

  • And betimes eating cheese and crackers, and drinking beer, and surfeiting the air with the delicious fumes of his strong pipe.

    Edith and John

    Franklin S. Farquhar

British Dictionary definitions for surfeiting

surfeit

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
Show More
verb
  1. (tr) to supply or feed excessively; satiate
  2. (intr) archaic to eat, drink, or be supplied to excess
  3. (intr) obsolete to feel uncomfortable as a consequence of overindulgence
Show More
Derived Formssurfeiter, noun

Word Origin

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

surfeit

n.

early 14c., "excess quantity;" late 14c., "overindulgence," from Old French surfet "excess," noun use of past participle of surfaire "overdo," from sur- "over" (see sur-) + faire "do," from Latin facere "to make" (see factitious).

Show More

surfeit

v.

late 14c., from surfeit (n.). Related: Surfeited; surfeiting.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper