▪ I. taster1
(ˈteɪstə(r))
Forms: 4–6 tastour, 5 -ar, taastowre, 6– taster.
[a. AF. tastour = OF. tasteur, f. OF. taster: see taste v. Later treated as agent-n. of the Eng. vb.: see -er1.]
1. a. One who tastes, or tries the quality of a thing by tasting; spec. one whose office, business, or employment is to test the quality of victuals sold to the public, as ale, wine, tea, etc. by taste; hence in comb. ale-taster, tea-taster, q.v. Also fig. In quot. 1596, the mouth.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 487/1 Taastowre, gustator, ambro. c 1450 in Surtees Misc. (1888) 62 Two ale tastars, y⊇ qwhyche two tastars..schall taste the ale of all common brewers every weke. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 274 b, To be vynteners, discerners, and tasters of the same. 1596 Harington Metam. Ajax (1814) 36 Riding on a great sow and holding before her taster a dirty pudding. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Odour i, As Amber-greese leaves a rich sent Unto the taster. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 79 Judicious tasters dilute hot liquors. 1854 Lowell Jrnl. in Italy Pr. Wks. 1890 I. 115, I reckon myself a good taster of dialects. 1866 Carlyle Remin., E. Irving (1881) 314, I..demanded back my poor MS. from Murray, received with it some apologetic palaver (enclosing an opinion from his taster..), and much hope [etc.]. 1905 Sat. Rev. 17 June 816/1 On the whole the first literary ‘taster’ of the MS. was, we think, justified in rejecting Coryat. |
b. transf. A device which tests as by tasting.
| 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) III. 24 Which thus acted as a sort of electric taster. |
2. A domestic officer whose duty it is to taste food and drink about to be served to his master, in order to ascertain their quality, or to detect poison.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 197 A monk..made a drink of venym,..and drank to þe kyng as it were his tastour. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong s.v. Eschanson, A taster of meates to kinges or other. 1602 T. Fitzherbert Apol. 31 The Emperour Claudius, poysoned by his taster. 1662 Hibbert Body Div. i. 206 Princes have their tasters before they eat, lest there should be poison in the dish. 1738 Swift Pol. Conversat. i. 13 What, Miss, Will you be my Taster [of a dish of tea]? 1895 Westm. Gaz. 30 Oct. 3/2 Not a morsel or a drop ever passes the Sultan's lips, they say, until he has tried it first on a taster. |
| fig. 1640 Reynolds Passions xvii. 179 Knowledge is Appetites Taster. |
3. An implement by which a small portion of anything is taken for tasting. a. A small shallow cup of silver, often with an embossed or corrugated bottom which reflects the light through the liquor, for tasting wines.
| 1420 E.E. Wills (1882) 46 A tastour of seluer with myn owne merke ymade in þe bottom. 1530 Palsgr. 279/2 Tastour a lytell cuppe to tast wyne, tasse a gouster le uin. 1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1665/4 One Silver Brandy Taster, marked with R. H. A. 1704 Ibid. No. 4055/4 Two long footed Silver Cups, one Taster. 1858 [see b]. |
b. An instrument by which a small portion is taken from the interior of a cheese; a skewer for testing the condition of hams.
| 1784 Twamley Dairying 79, I told her Cheese of that countenance always was sweet. I put my taster into one and gave it her to taste. 1811 [see cheese-taster s.v. cheese n.1 7]. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Taster,..a scoop for tasting cheese; a skewer for trying hams; a dram cup. |
4. A small portion of food, etc., or of anything, for a sample; a taste; spec., a portion of ice cream served in a shallow glass.
| 1826 Syd. Smith Granby Wks. 1867 II. 90 It shall be the taster of the cheese, and we are convinced it will sell the whole article. 1891 Daily News 28 July 7/2 He went to the defendant's [an ice-cream vendor] stall in London-wall and asked him for a ‘taster’. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 20 May 2/1 The ‘taster’, a free gift bestowed of yore in order to retain the..goodwill of regular but temporarily impecunious customers. 1901 Daily Tel. 21 May 10 The irate signor..produced—not a half-penny taster for the policeman but a tattered copy of a work called ‘Law without Lawyers’. 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 16 The Italian often known as an ice-cream Jack with his ice-cream barrow still follows his calling and no doubt the youngsters still ask for wafers and tasters. |
▪ II. ‖ taster2 Zool.
(ˈtɑːstə(r), -æ-)
[G. taster feeler, antenna, f. tasten to feel, touch.]
In certain Hydrozoa, A modified zooid situated on the polypstem, and somewhat resembling the polypites, but having no mouth; a hydrocyst or feeler.
| 1884 Stand. Nat. Hist. I. 100 Alternating with the polypites at intervals along the polypstem are found very curious bodies called tasters, which have a close likeness to the flask-shaped zoöids. [1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 770 Siphonophora... The various parts..(1) The polypite or gastrozooid... (2) Hydrocysts or feelers (= Taster of German writers)... These structures are polypites in which the distal or oral extremity is imperforate and usually armed with cnidoblasts. The pedicle is absent or short.] |