/fiːst/
OriginFrom Middle English feeste, feste, borrowed from Old French feste, from Late Latin festa, from the plural of Latin festum (“holiday, festival, feast”), from Proto-Italic *fēs-tos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s (“god, godhead, deity”); see also Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god, goddess”). More at theo-. Doublet of fete, fiesta, and fest. Displaced Old English winhate.
- A holiday, festival, especially a religious one
“The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.”
“Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.”
- A very large meal, often of a ceremonial nature.
“We had a feast to celebrate the harvest.”
- Something delightful
“It was a feast for the eyes.”
- intransitiveTo partake in a feast, or large meal.
“I feasted on turkey and dumplings.”
- intransitiveTo dwell upon (something) with delight.
“With my love's picture then my eye doth feast.”
- transitiveTo hold a feast in honor of (someone).
“He that shall see this day, and live old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors
And say “Tomorrow is Saint Crispian.””
“His ancestor, he said, had been feasted there, when he went forward with the then Lord Ravenswood to the fatal battle of Flodden, in which they both fell.”
“We feasted them after the victory.”
- obsolete, transitiveTo serve as a feast for; to feed sumptuously.
“1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum
Or once a week, perhaps, for novelty / Reez'd bacon-soords shall feast his family.”
- A surname from Middle English.
Formsfeasts(plural) · feasts(present, singular, third-person) · feasting(participle, present) · feasted(participle, past) · feasted(past) · Feasts(plural)