Feast to Febrifuge
Feast
(Feast) n. [OE. feste festival, holiday, feast, OF. feste festival, F. fête, fr. L. festum, pl. festa, fr.
festus joyful, festal; of uncertain origin. Cf. Fair, n., Festal, Fête.]
1. A festival; a holiday; a solemn, or more commonly, a joyous, anniversary.
The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.
Ex. xiii. 6.
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
Luke ii. 41. Ecclesiastical feasts are called immovable when they always occur on the same day of the year; otherwise
they are called movable.
2. A festive or joyous meal; a grand, ceremonious, or sumptuous entertainment, of which many guests
partake; a banquet characterized by tempting variety and abundance of food.
Enough is as good as a feast.
Old Proverb.
Belshazzar the King made a great feast to a thousand of his lords.
Dan. v. 1. 3. That which is partaken of, or shared in, with delight; something highly agreeable; entertainment.
The feast of reason, and the flow of soul.
Pope. Feast day, a holiday; a day set as a solemn commemorative festival.
Syn. — Entertainment; regale; banquet; treat; carousal; festivity; festival. — Feast, Banquet, Festival,
Carousal. A feast sets before us viands superior in quantity, variety, and abundance; a banquet is a
luxurious feast; a festival is the joyful celebration by good cheer of some agreeable event. Carousal is
unrestrained indulgence in frolic and drink.
Feast
(Feast), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Feasted; p. pr. & vb. n. Feasting.] [OE. festen, cf. OF. fester to
rest from work, F. fêter to celebrate a holiday. See Feast, n.]
1. To eat sumptuously; to dine or sup on rich provisions, particularly in large companies, and on public
festivals.
And his sons went and feasted in their houses.
Job. i. 4. 2. To be highly gratified or delighted.
With my love's picture then my eye doth feast.
Shak. Feast
(Feast), v. t.
1. To entertain with sumptuous provisions; to treat at the table bountifully; as, he was feasted by the
king. Hayward.
2. To delight; to gratify; as, to feast the soul.
Feast your ears with the music a while.
Shak. Feaster
(Feast"er) n.
1. One who fares deliciously.
2. One who entertains magnificently. Johnson.
