Library / English Dictionary

FEAST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something experienced with great delight

Example:

a feast for the eyes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("feast" is a kind of...):

thing (an event)

Derivation:

feast (gratify)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An elaborate party (often outdoors)

Synonyms:

feast; fete; fiesta

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("feast" is a kind of...):

party (an occasion on which people can assemble for social interaction and entertainment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "feast"):

luau (an elaborate Hawaiian feast or party (especially one accompanied by traditional foods and entertainment))

potlatch (a ceremonial feast held by some Indians of the northwestern coast of North America (as in celebrating a marriage or a new accession) in which the host gives gifts to tribesmen and others to display his superior wealth (sometimes, formerly, to his own impoverishment))

Derivation:

feast (partake in a feast or banquet)

feast (provide a feast or banquet for)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A meal that is well prepared and greatly enjoyed

Example:

they put out quite a spread

Synonyms:

banquet; feast; spread

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("feast" is a kind of...):

meal; repast (the food served and eaten at one time)

Derivation:

feast (partake in a feast or banquet)

feast (provide a feast or banquet for)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A ceremonial dinner party for many people

Synonyms:

banquet; feast

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("feast" is a kind of...):

dinner; dinner party (a party of people assembled to have dinner together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "feast"):

gaudy ((Britain) a celebratory reunion feast or entertainment held a college)

Derivation:

feast (partake in a feast or banquet)

feast (provide a feast or banquet for)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Gratify

Example:

feed one's eyes on a gorgeous view

Synonyms:

feast; feed

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "feast" is one way to...):

regale; treat (provide with choice or abundant food or drink)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

feast (something experienced with great delight)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Partake in a feast or banquet

Synonyms:

banquet; feast; junket

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "feast" is one way to...):

eat (eat a meal; take a meal)

Verb group:

banquet; feast; junket (provide a feast or banquet for)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "feast"):

wine and dine (eat sumptuously)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue feast

Derivation:

feast (an elaborate party (often outdoors))

feast (a meal that is well prepared and greatly enjoyed)

feast (a ceremonial dinner party for many people)

feasting (eating an elaborate meal (often accompanied by entertainment))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Provide a feast or banquet for

Synonyms:

banquet; feast; junket

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "feast" is one way to...):

host (be the host of or for)

Verb group:

banquet; feast; junket (partake in a feast or banquet)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot feast Sue

Derivation:

feast (an elaborate party (often outdoors))

feast (a meal that is well prepared and greatly enjoyed)

feast (a ceremonial dinner party for many people)

Credits

 Context examples: 

But he knew only that he was hungry, and through his restless sleep he dreamed of feasts and banquets and of food served and spread in all imaginable ways.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Great rounds of beef, saddles of mutton, smoking tongues, veal and ham pies, turkeys and chickens, and geese, with every variety of vegetables, and a succession of fiery cherries and heavy ales were the main staple of the feast.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Lead author Sally Wasef of Australia's Griffith University explained to the press, The ibis was considered to represent the god Thoth, the god of wisdom, the god of magic, the god of judgment, writing all sorts of things (...) If you had a boss that annoys you and you don't feel like you are getting a good judgment from him or you want fairness and justice, you go and ask Thoth to interfere and in return you promise to offer him an ibis, a mummified ibis, in his annual feast.

(Ancient Egyptians collected wild ibis birds for sacrifice, says study, Wikinews)

Then he waited till her father came home, and told him that the unknown maiden, who had been at the feast, had hid herself in the pigeon-house.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It was but the other day, upon the feasts of the blessed Simon and Jude, that he slew my younger brother William in Bere Forest—for which, by the black thorn of Glastonbury!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I am satisfied that Mr. and Mrs. Micawber could not have enjoyed the feast more, if they had sold a bed to provide it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I could not refuse, and so you have a little feast at night to make up for the bread-and-milk breakfast.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He was feasting his love of beauty at this table where eating was an aesthetic function.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

That night, on going to bed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hot roast potatoes, or white bread and new milk, with which I was wont to amuse my inward cravings: I feasted instead on the spectacle of ideal drawings, which I saw in the dark; all the work of my own hands: freely pencilled houses and trees, picturesque rocks and ruins, Cuyp-like groups of cattle, sweet paintings of butterflies hovering over unblown roses, of birds picking at ripe cherries, of wren's nests enclosing pearl-like eggs, wreathed about with young ivy sprays.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The wedding-feast was held, and they lived happily together a long time.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)