feast--prophetes.ai

▪ I. feast, n.
    (fiːst)
    Forms: 3–6 fest(e, 4–6 feaste, feest(e, (6 Sc. feist), 9 dial. veast, 6– feast.
    [a. OF. feste (Fr. fête) = Pr., Pg., It. festa, Sp. fiesta:—Com. Rom. festa fem. sing., a. L. festa festal ceremonies, neut. pl. of festus adj. festal; but the Lat. word equivalent to feast was festum, the neut. sing. of this adj.
    The L. festus is prob. a ppl. formation containing the same root as fēria (:—older *fēsia): see fair n.]
    1. A religious anniversary appointed to be observed with rejoicing (hence opposed to a fast), in commemoration of some event or in honour of some personage. the feast, in the N.T. esp. the Passover.
    movable feasts: those (viz. Easter and the feasts depending on it) of which the date varies from year to year; opposed to immovable feasts, such as Christmas, the Saints' Days, etc.

a 1225 Ancr. R. 22 Ȝif hit beo holiniht vor þe feste of nie lescuns þet kumeð amorwen. c 1275 Passion 85 in O.E. Misc. 39 As hit neyhlechet to heore muchele feste. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 441 Hys Ester feste. c 1340 Cursor M. 10428 (Trin.) Men shulde..fair cloþing on hem..take for her heȝe feestes sake. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 238 Þei holden wel þis feeste. 1411 Rolls of Parlt. III. 650/1 The Saterday neghst after the fest of Seint Michael. c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 352 He said, it was bot till a kyrkyn fest. 1526 Tindale Luke xxii. 1 The feaste of swete breed drue nye whiche is called ester. a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. vi, For honor of the feist. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 124 As the Romanes did their feast of Fugalia, or chasing out of the Kings. 1611 Bible Ex. xii. 14 You shall keepe it a feast by an ordinance for euer. 1740 Gray Lett. Wks. 1884 II. 85 Corpus Christi Day, the greatest feast in the year. 1796 H. Hunter St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 308 It is the feast of Jupiter. 1825 Fosbroke Encycl. Antiq. (1843) II. 651/2 A principal feast was made..in commemoration of the return of warmth and the sun. 1885 Catholic Dict., Feasts of the Church, Days on which the Church joyfully commemorates particular mysteries of the Christian religion or the glory of her saints.

b. double feast (L. festum duplex): the designation given to the most important class of feasts in the Roman Catholic church; for the (disputed) origin of the name see Cathol. Dict. s.v. Feast.

a 1225 Ancr. R. 70 Euerich urideie..holdeð silence bute ȝif hit beo duble feste. c 1500 Arnold Chron. (1811) 68 On sondayes and other solempne and double festys.

c. A village festival held annually, originally on the feast of the saint to whom the parish church is dedicated (cf. Fr. fête de village), but now usually on a particular Sunday of the year, and the one or two days following. In some places called wakes or revels.
In England the village ‘feast,’ where it continues to be observed, is the great annual occasion (second to or rivalling Christmas) for family gatherings and the entertainment of visitors from a distance.

1559 Mirr. Mag., Worcester xvii, Whan I should have gone to Blockam feast. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 33 Statute and feast his village yearly knew. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ii, The great times for back-swording came round..at the feast. Ibid., The Vale ‘veasts’ were not the common statute feasts. 1864 W. Barnes in Macm. Mag. Oct. 476 At the feäst, at the cool evenentide, I walk'd on wi' you.

† 2. A gathering for pleasure or sports; a fête.

1485 Caxton Paris & V. (1868) 13 The kyng..made his maundement that they al shold come wyth theyr armes and hors for to Iouste..and they that shold do best in armes..they shold haue the prys and the worshyp of the feste. c 1489 ― Sonnes of Aymon vii. 175 They sholde kepe well the feest, that noo noyse nor noo stryffe were there made.

3. A sumptuous meal or entertainment, given to a number of guests; a banquet, esp. of a more or less public nature. Also a series of such entertainments. to make a feast: to give a banquet. † to hold a feast: to give or join in a banquet.

c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 11 Untimeliche eten alehuse and at ferme and at feste. c 1275 Lay. 14425 Þe king makede feste [1205 ueorme]. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 78 Anon me him tiþinge tolde Þat þe admiral wolde feste h[olde]. c 1350 Will. Palerne 5074 Þe fest of þat mariage a moneþ fulle lasted. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 954 Ful besy was Grisilde in every thing, That to the feste was appertinent. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 4 Þe brethren and sustren..shul..hold togeder..a fest. c 1400 Destr. Troy 205 He cast hym full cointly be cause of this thyng, In a Cite be-syde to somyn a fest. a 1400–50 Alexander 480 Þis dere kynge..Had parreld him a proude feste of princes & dukis. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lxxxi. 103 The nexte day she made them a great feest at dyner. 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. vi. 75 Make not a Citie Feast of it, to let the meat coole, ere we can agree vpon the first place. 1678 Lady Chaworth in Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. App. v. 53 The Duke of Yorke comes to towne to the Artillery feast to-day. 1682 Bunyan Holy War (1785) 165 Mr. Carnal Security did again make a feast for the town of Mansoul. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Savage Wks. III. 344 Savage..was..distinguished at their public feasts. 1814 Byron Corsair ii. i, Seyd, the Pacha, makes a feast to-night.

† b. Hence rarely: The company at a feast.

a 1400–50 Alexander 492 All þe fest was a-ferd & oþ ire folke bathe.

4. An unusually abundant and delicious meal; something delicious to feed upon; fig. an exquisite gratification, a rich treat. to make a feast: to enjoy a good meal, eat luxuriously (of, upon).

1393 Gower Conf. III. 30 Eke min ere hath over this A deinty feste. c 1440 York Myst. xv. 44 Say felowes, what! fynde yhe any feest Me falles for to haue parte, parde! 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 290 b, They attayne to greater feestes, and more..haboundaunt ioye of the spiryte. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 85 Folke saie, enough is as good as a feast. 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. viii. 43 This makes thy morsell a perpetuall Feast. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xv. 266 And make a feast upon me. 1739 Gray Lett. Wks. 1884 II. 48 Two eunuchs' voices, that were a perfect feast to ears that had heard nothing but French operas for a year. a 1744 Pope Imit. Hor. Epist. i. vii. 25 Pray take them, Sir—Enough's a Feast. 1822 Shelley Hellas 1025 The death-birds descend to their feast. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Distant Corr., The moment you received the intelligence my full feast of fun would be over. 1851 Hawthorne Ho. Sev. Gables xix. (1883) 338 He would make a feast of the portly grunter. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. vi. (1875) 247 How little of a feast for the senses. 1870 Dickens E. Drood iii, We had a feast.

† 5. Rejoicing, festivity. Obs.

c 1300 St. Brandan 75 We seide hem that we hadde i-beo in alle joy and feste, Bifore the ȝates of Paradys. c 1315 Shoreham (Percy Soc.) 148 Ac nys no blysse ne no feste [printed seste] Aȝeyns the joye of conqueste Thet hys thorȝ god. 1644 Milton Educ., Living out their days in feast and jollity. 1667 ― P.L. vi. 167 Ministring Spirits, traind up in Feast and Song.

6. to make feast (= Fr. faire fête): a. To make merry, rejoice; in later use with narrower sense, to enjoy a delicious repast, to feast. arch.

a 1225 Ancr. R. 222 He..bringeð hire on to..a last makien feste. c 1300 Seyn Julian 33 To gadere hi made gret feste. 1375 Barbour Bruce xix. 730 The scottis folk..maid fest and far, And blew hornys and fyres maid. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 188/1 As sone as thy salutacyon entrid in to myn eerys the chylde..made joye and feste. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon vii. 16 My hert is not very joyfull to synge nor to make fest. 1870 Morris Earthly Par., Cupid & Psyche (1890) 107/1 Come, sister, sit, and let us make good feast! 1881 Tennyson Cup ii. Poems (1889) 762/2, I would that every man made feast to-day Beneath the shadow of our pines!

† b. To show honour or respect to, make much of (a person). Cf. Fr. faire fête à. Also absol. To pay one's court. Obs.

1340 Ayenb. 156 Þe lhord..him froteþ and makeþ him greate feste. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 638 With his hede he maketh feste. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5064 She..laugheth on hym, and makith hym feeste. c 1450 Merlin 88 He..merveiled why the kynge made hym soche grete feeste. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lvi. 189 His doughter came to hym to make him feest.

7. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as feast-cake, feast-companion, feast-guest, feast-house, feast-night, feast-rite, feast-robe; feast-famous adj. b. objective, as feast-goer; feast-finding adj.

1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ii, Every household..managed to raise a ‘*feast-cake’.

a 1610 Healey Theophrastus (1636) 40 His *feast-companions.

1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 143 Dainty Salmons, Chevins thunder-scar'd, *Feast-famous Sturgeons.

1593 Shakes. Lucr. 817 *Feast-finding minstrels.

1552 Huloet, *Feast-gestes which be inuited to the banquet or feast.

1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ii, The frighted scurrying away of the female *feast-goers.

1483 Cath. Angl. 128/2 A *Fest house, conuiuarium. 1539 Cranmer in Strype Life ii. (1694) 246 Every alehouse and tavern, every feasthouse.

1820 Keats St. Agnes xx, This *feast-night.

1725 Pope Odyss. x. 404 Shall I be led To share thy *feast-rites.

1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iii. (1617) 94 Keeping on his *feast-robe onely.

8. Special comb.: † feast-bed, a couch for reclining at meals, a triclinium; feast-day, a day on which a feast (senses 1–3) is held; feast-maker, the giver of a feast; feast-master, one who presides at a feast; feast-won a., won by a feast.

a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal 268 Lazing on their *feast-beds.

a 1300 Cursor M. 13131 (Cott.) Saint Ion al-wais in prisun lai, Til it com on a *fest dai. 1382 Wyclif 1 Macc. i. 41 The feestdays therof ben turned in to mournyng. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) viii. 30 Þai drink na wyne comounly, bot on hegh feste days. 1611 Bible Amos v. 21, I despise your feast dayes. a 1746 Holdsworth On Virgil (1768) 138 On the feast-day of Castor and Pollux. 1870 Dickens E. Drood xiii, It would never do to spoil his feast-days.

1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. Epist. (Arb.) 26 Geuyng no thankes to the *feaste maker. a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal 50 It [the word trechedipna] is sometimes taken for the feast⁓maker.

1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 521 Doth not the Bridegroome turne all the *feast-maisters..out of his chamber. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 188 Then needs must the feast masters strive Too pensive thoughts away to drive. 1607 Shakes. Timon ii. ii. 180 *Feast won, fast lost.

▪ II. feast, v.
    (fiːst)
    Forms: 3–5 fest(e(n, -in, -yn, 4 feaste, 5 feest, 6 feasten, 6– feast.
    [ME. festen, ad. OF. fester (Fr. fêter), f. feste feast n.]
    1. intr. To make or partake of a feast, fare sumptuously, regale oneself. Also with on, upon, and to feast it.

c 1300 K. Alis. 1578 Teller of jeste is ofte myslike Ribaud festeth also with tripe. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2157 Ariadne, There festen they, there dauncen they and synge. 1483 Cath. Angl. 128/2 To Feste. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iv. 65 Did this Companion..Reuell and feast it at my house to-day[?] 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. xxviii. 48 When the Sun-bak'd Peasant goes to feast it with a Gentleman. 1691 Hartcliffe Virtues 71 They honour a Martyr by feasting on his Festival. 1819 Shelley Cyclops 365 The Cyclops..Now feasts on the dead. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1136 Geraint..bad the host Call in..his friends And feast with these in honour of their Earl.

fig. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xlvii, With my loves' picture then my eye doth feast. 1768 Verse of Oxford Newsman in Oxford Sausage (1822) 177 At length we change our wonted note And feast, all winter, on a vote. 1825 Lytton Falkland 13, I have, as it were, feasted upon the passions. 1871 G. Meredith H. Richmond xxv. (1887) 226 The princess..let her eyes feast incessantly on a laughing sea.

† b. To keep holiday, give oneself to pleasure; to enjoy oneself. Obs.

1608 Shakes. Per. i. iv. 107 Feast here awhile, Until our stars that frown lend us a smile.

c. to feast away, to drive away by feasting; to pass (time) in feasting.

1621 Bp. Hall Heaven upon Earth §6 Feast away thy cares. 1733 Fielding Don Quix. in Eng. ii. v, Then hungry homeward we return, To feast away the night.

2. trans. To provide a feast for, regale. Also refl.

1340–70 Alisaunder 978 Whan hee is fare fro fight his folke for too feaste. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 335 Religious þat riche ben shulde rather feste beggeres þan burgeys. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xxi, The kynge and all..that were fested that day. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 256 The Lorde Bartholomew..magnificently feasted there the Queene. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. v. v, Here lies a dish to feast thy fathers gorge. 1651 Davenant Gondibert iii. v. 80 Hope, the worlds..standing Guest, Fed by the Rich, but feasted by the Poor. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 179 Our men might be said not to refresh but to feast themselves here with fresh provisions. 1849 James Woodman v, Arrangements made for feasting the number of forty in the stranger's hall. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola i. xx, The guests were all feasted after this initial ceremony.

fig. c 1300 Havelok 2938 Hauelok..bigan..His denshe men to feste wel With riche landes. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xvii 318 Fiat-uoluntas-tua festeþ hym eche day. 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. vi. 36 Feast your eares with the Musicke awhile. 1653 Walton Angler 46 A companion that feasts the company with wit and mirth. 1701 Farquhar Sir H. Wildair v. v, We'll charm our ears with Abel's voice; feast our eyes with one another. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xii. xiii, With the Gypsies he had feasted only his understanding. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague iii. i. 163, I know not why My soul thus longs to feast itself on terror. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. vii. 256 To feast the Company with the most flattering accounts of the state of their affairs. 1857 Willmott Pleas. Lit. xi. 45 Pope, at twelve feasted his eyes in the picture galleries of Spenser.

3. In a more general sense: To entertain hospitably and sumptuously.

1490 Caxton Eneydos xiii. 48 She doeth make grete appareylles for to feeste Eneas ryghte highely. 1548 Hall Chron. 184 b, They were of Philippe, duke of Bourgoyne, wel receyved and fested. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 30 The Duke of Medina Sidonia feasted the King, with chasing of buls. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 2 How shall I feast him? What bestow of him?

Hence ˈfeasted ppl. a. ˈfeasting ppl. a.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 158/1 Festyd, or fed wythe goode mete and drynke, convivatus. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. iv. lii. 58 That I may enter with thy feasted friends. 1674 Dryden State Innocence 17 All these are ours, all nature's excellence Whose tast or smell can bless the feasted sence. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. iii. 86 Her beautie makes This Vault a feasting presence full of light.