▪ I. relish, n.1
(ˈrɛlɪʃ)
Also 6–7 rellish, 7 rellice, rallish.
[Later form of reles, with shifting of stress (cf. rellesde s.v. relished) and assimilation of the ending to -ish2.]
1. a. A taste or flavour; the distinctive taste of anything.
| 1530 Palsgr. 261/2 Rellysshe, a sauour, govst. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 109 God..hath giuen such relishes to meates and drinkes, whereby..all liuing creatures can presently know by their taste what things are good to eate and drinke. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 349 As for the cheeses made in France, they taste like a medicine, and haue an aromatical relish with them. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 178 We ate Fish..as broad and as thicke as Carpes, and of as good a rellish. 1742 Hume Ess., Orig. Ideas (1817) II. 18 A Laplander or Negro has no notion of the relish of wine. 1821 Scott Pirate iv, The salt relish of the drift which was pelted against his face. 1842 Tennyson Will Waterproof 98 Whether the vintage, yet unkept, Had relish fiery-new. |
b. fig. or in fig. context.
| 1592 G. Harvey New Letter Wks. (Grosart) I. 266 What pleasanter relish of the Muses, then the Verse of the Other? 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 108 If sweet, let th' relish of my poems moue That loue in thee, to thank me for my loue. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. ix. viii. (1859) 442 A mind that..hath its inward senses affected with the sweet relishes of divine goodness. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 I. 267 Neither indeed hath any thing a more pleasant and savoury relish than to do good. 1723 Waterland Serm. Eccl. vii. 14 Wks. 1823 VIII. 459 The fruits of liberty have the more grateful relish after the uneasy hours of a close and tedious confinement. |
c. transf. A trace or tinge of some quality; a suggestion; a sample or specimen; a small quantity.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 111 Your Lordship..hath yet some smack of age in you; some rellish of the saltnesse of Time. 1602 ― Ham. iii. iii. 92 Some acte That ha's no rellish of Saluation in't. 1620 E. Blount Horæ Subs. 255 The name carried with it a remembrance and rellish of the ciuill warres. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. Pref. (1721) I. 92 The Style..should have some peculiar Relish of the Ancient Fashion of Writing. 1776 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 98 With⁓out a shadow, a relish, a smutch, a tinge, anything, the slightest that can be imagined, of anger. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. v. ii. (1849) 265 Let us have a relish of thy art. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 702, I never saw a relish of salt produce such an effect. |
† 2. An individual taste or liking. Obs.
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 206 We haue Some old Crab-trees here at home, That will not be grafted to your Rallish. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. iii. xvi. §17, I do not here appeal to the Complexional humors or peculiar Relishes of men that arise out of the temper of the Body. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 114 ¶7 This Way of Thinking, which is so abstracted from the common Relish of the World. 1758 S. Hayward Serm. xvi. 466 Certain austerities in religion which by no means suit their relish. |
3. a. An appetizing or pleasing flavour; a savoury or piquant taste. (In quots. chiefly fig.)
| 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. vi. i, To..make his whole Meal of what was meant onely for Sauce, to give a Rellish to what he rejects for it. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome i. 7 Rhetoric and Grammar..soon lost their relish with Marcus. 1737 Pope Hor. Sat. ii. ii. 32 The tired glutton..finds no relish in the sweetest meat. 1784 J. Barry in Lect. Paint. vi. (1848) 225 The style which Titian afterwards adopted..was not of so high a relish for rilievo and hue. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. ii. ii. 68 At the commencement of the seventeenth century, these pastimes seem to have lost their relish among the higher classes of the people. 1868 E. Edwards Ralegh I. iv. 73 No amount of favour has relish for the Earl [of Essex], if his rival has favour too. |
b. A savoury addition to a meal; an appetiser. Also attrib.
| 1797 W. Priest Travels in U.S.A. (1802) 32 About eight or nine in the morning they breakfast on tea and coffee, attended always with what they call relishes, such as salt fish, beef-steaks, sausages, broiled fowls, ham, bacons &c. 1798 Sporting Mag. XI. 162 To call at a public house..for a relish. 1826 J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans I. vi. 72 Glad to eat their venison raw, and without a relish too. Here..we have plenty of salt. 1831 F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. (1901) II. 41 The herrings..are excellent ‘relish’, as they call it, when salted. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 329/1 Beef-steaks, eggs, or something in the shape of a relish. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 28 A relish they shall have—salt and olives and cheese. 1963 R. I. McDavid Mencken's Amer. Lang. iii. 120 Rolliches, pickled rolls of meat, are still occasionally made in the Hudson Valley, and sometimes anglicized to relishes. 1978 Chicago June 221/1 The $4.50 to $7.95 dinners include a relish plate (crisp vegetables, cheddar cheese spread, and scoop of homemade liver pâté). |
| fig. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Love Wks. (Bohn) I. 74 When happiness was not happy enough, but must be drugged by the relish of pain and fear. |
4. a. Enjoyment of the taste or flavour of something; the pleasure of tasting or enjoying something agreeable; liking, zest. (In quots. chiefly fig.)
| 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. Ad §10. 9 Our relishes are higher after a long fruition, than at the first Essayes. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1024 Much pleasure we have lost, while we abstain'd From this delightful Fruit, nor known till now True relish, tasting. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. Wks. (Grosart) I. 42 Ever since their mouths have been so in relish, that the Presbyterians are..the very canibals of capons. 1791 Gentl. Mag. LXI. 20/2 The clergy would, from the calls of their profession, if not from natural relish, keep up their classical acquirements. 1833 H. Martineau Vanderput & S. v. 83 She returned to her spiced baked eels and glass of liqueur with a new relish. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 148 Cranmer pronounced the sentence of deprivation; and..seems to have done this with great relish. |
b. Const. for, of (now rare), † to.
| 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. ix, If we go from God's Ordinances with a love to them, and a rellish of them. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 1 ¶6 The true Relish for Manly Entertainment..is not wholly lost. 1713 ― Guardian No. 14 ¶1 That which I observe they have most relish to is horses. 1784 Cowper Task i. 141 [My years] have not..yet impaired My relish of fair prospect. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 14 Our admiration does not lessen our relish for him. 1834 Cary in P. Fitzgerald Lamb (1866) 184 Do they gather round and praise Thy relish of their nobler lays? 1872 Morley Voltaire 7 A moral relish for veritable proofs of honesty. |
5. Sense of taste; power of relishing. rare—1.
| 1774 Goldsmith Retal. 111 Of Praise a mere glutton, he swallowed what came..Till his relish grown callous, almost to disease, Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please. |
▪ II. † ˈrelish, n.2 Mus. Obs.
Also 6 relise, releas, 7 rellish.
[Of obscure origin: perh. ultimately the same as prec., but the connexion is not clear. See also relish v.2]
A grace, ornament, or embellishment.
| 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer i. E iv, A musitien, yf in singing he roule out but a playne note endinge in a dooble relise wyth a sweete tune. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 61 My doobl releas, my hy reachez, my fine feyning, my deep diapason. 1608 Heywood Lucrece Wks. 1874 V. 200, I ha not the power to part from you, without a rellish, a note, a tone. 1616 J. Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. xii. 287 The kinge..sunge so glorious musickes..with relishes and trewe divisions. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 12 A song, which he performed..no Graces, Double Relishes, Trillos, Gropos, or Piano forte's, but plain as a packstaff. 1668 Shadwell Sullen Lovers iii, He has the best double Rellish in Gam-ut of any man in England. |
▪ III. relish, n.3 rare.
(ˈrɛlɪʃ)
Also 7 rell-.
[ad. OF. relais (13th c. in Godef.) a projection of the masonry at the base of a wall.]
A projection, now spec. in Joinery (see quot. 1875).
Cf. also East Anglian rally ‘a projecting ledge in a wall built thicker below than above, serving the purpose of a shelf’ (Forby).
| 1611 Cotgr., Forject, a iutting, or leaning out, or ouer; a rellish, or out-footing. 1679 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 171 Rellish, see Projecture. [Projecture, is a jetting over the upright of a Building.] 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1916/1 Relish, (Joinery) the projection of the shoulder of a tenoned piece beyond the part which enters the mortise. |
▪ IV. relish, v.1
(ˈrɛlɪʃ)
Also 6–7 rellish, 7 rallish.
[f. relish n.1; cf. disrelish, and see also release v.2]
1. trans. a. To give or impart a relish to (a thing); to make pleasant to the taste. Also fig.
| 1586 B. Young Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iv. 185 So supper began, which was enterchangeablie relished with sundrie sweet and pleasant speeches. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage i. xvi. (1614) 84 Earthly happinesse..is neuer meere and vnmixed, but hath some sowre sauce to rellish it. 1660 N. Ingelo Bentiv. & Ur. i. (1682) 155 Hunger and Thirst are our best sauce..; we still keep some to relish our next meal. c 1720 Ramsay 4th Ep. Hamilton 8 Your herrings, Sir, came hale and feer..; They relish fine Good claret wine. 1791 W. Bartram Carolina 349 Excellent coffee, relished with bucanned venison, hot corn cakes, excellent butter and cheese. 1850 Macaulay in Trevelyan Life & Lett. (1880) II. 286, I have also a novel.., to relish my wine. 1872 Browning Fifine xcii, Gust and smack which relished so The meat o'the meal folks made some fifty years ago. |
† b. To have a taste, tinge, or trace of (some quality or thing), to partake of. Obs.
| 1604 T. Wright Passions v. §4. 192 In amplifications all conceits should relish a certaine greatnesse and carie with them some sort of excesse. a 1637 B. Jonson Discov. Wks. (Rtldg.) 764/2 This was theatrical wit, right stage jesting, and relishing a play-house. 1656 [? J. Sergeant] tr. T. White's Peripat. Inst. 147 But these and many such like seem rather to rellish the nature of vapours. 1702 tr. Le Clerc's Prim. Fathers 4 His Style..doth not much relish the Neatness and Elegancy of the Athenian Writers. |
c. To provide with something relishing; to please, gratify, delight. ? Obs.
| 1603 Dekker Wonderful Year D iv, To rellish the pallat of lickerish expectation..you must belieue [etc.]. 1608 in Capt. Smith True Relat. Wks. (Arb.) 103 To make a feast or two with bisket, pork, beefe, fish, and oile, to relish our mouthes. 1626 L. Owen Running Register 63 They send her many dainty dishes..to rellish her palate. 1692 Sir T. P. Blount Ess. Pref., If it relishes not thy gusto, the only way to be even with me, is for thee to turn Author. 1794 A. Bell in Southey Life (1844) I. 470 It relishes me much to listen to your counsel of meeting soon. |
† 2. To taste, take a taste of (also fig.); to distinguish by tasting. Obs. rare.
| 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. K 3 b, Strong poyson..so mingled..that when his Grand-sublimity-taster came to relish it, he sunke downe stark dead. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iv. iv, Friend! is there any such foolish thing in the world, ha? 'slid, I never relished it yet. 1623–33 Fletcher & Shirley Night-Walker i. iv, One that knows not neck⁓beef from a pheasant, Nor cannot rellish Braggat from Ambrosia. |
† b. To feel. Obs. rare—1.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 23 Shall not my selfe, One of their kinde, that rellish all as sharpely Passion as they [etc.]? |
3. To enjoy, take pleasure or delight in.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear i. ii. 51 This policie, and reuerence of Age..keepes our Fortunes from vs, till our oldnesse cannot rellish them. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Flower vi, I once more smell the dew and rain, And relish versing. 1759 Dilworth Pope 61 Highly capable of relishing beauties in the performances of others. 1784 Cowper Task v. 783 Thine heart, Made pure, shall relish with divine delight,..what hands divine have wrought. 1820 Shelley Œd. Tyr. i. 90 January winds, after a day Of butchering, will make them relish carrion. 1837 Hallam Hist. Lit. i. i. §92 His fine taste taught him to relish the beauties of Virgil and Cicero. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 46 The German relished for his breakfast the good things..here provided. |
| refl. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. iv. i, O, I am rapt with it,..I never truly relish'd myself before. |
b. To like, have a liking for; to care for, be pleased or satisfied with; to approve of.
| 1594 Drayton Idea 338 Foraine Nations rellish not our Tongue. 1632 Sanderson Serm. 124 Taxing the Abuses with such Freedome, as (it may be) some will not rellish. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xi. 253 These speculations were not relished [ed. 5 adopted] by the generality of our people. 1777 Watson Philip II, i. (1793) I. 14 He was too much a Spaniard to relish anything that was not Spanish. 1832 R. & J. Lander Exped. Niger III. xviii. 134 This mode of proceeding I did not relish at all. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. ii, It is questionable whether any man quite relishes being mistaken for any other man. 1885 Manch. Exam. 11 June 4/7 They do not relish the prospect before them. |
c. To take or receive in a particular manner. Now rare.
| c 1600 Drayton Miseries Q. Margaret liii, The duke..must cast and cunningly contrive, To see how people relished the same. 1643 Prynne Sov. Power Parlt. i. (ed. 2) 17 Which insolent speech the English Bishops relished so harshly, that they [etc.]. 1670 Cotton Espernon ii. vi. 245 The Duke of Espernon, whom the King began now much better to relish. 1762 Symmer in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. IV. 450 How this will be relished at the Prussian Court, I wish I could say, I know not. 1884 Nonconf. & Indep. 16 May 469/1 His opening address..was evidently well relished by the audience. |
† d. To appreciate, understand. Obs. rare.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 14 Fooles relish not a ladies excellence. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. ii. i. 167 If you, or stupified, Or seeming so, in skill, cannot, or will not Rellish a truth, like vs. |
4. intr. To have a (or the) taste of something; to savour or smack of, have a touch or trace of.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 120 For vertue cannot so innocculate our old Stocke, but we shall rellish of it. 1650 Jer. Taylor Holy Living (1727) 242 It will make everything relish of religion. 1684 Scanderbeg Rediv. i. 3 Streams usually relish of the Fountain whence they proceed. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 84 To be thus affected, would relish too much of a Cynical Humour. 1784 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. xii. Wks. 1797 I. 258 Those ideas only which relish of grandeur and simplicity. 1850 L. Hunt Autobiog. II. x. 31 His piety..relished of everything that was sweet and affectionate. |
5. To taste in a particular way; to have a specified taste or relish. Also in fig. context.
| 1605 Chapman All Fooles Wks. 1873 I. 139 Doe not his kisses relish Much better then such pessants as I am? 1654 Fuller Comm. Ruth (1868) 101 Afflictions relish sour and bitter even to the palates of the best saints. 1751 Affect. Narr. of Wager 97 A Couple of Dogs..relished then as well to our Palates, as the best Mutton we had ever eaten. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. i. (1869) 1 A glass of old port or humming ale hardly relishes as it ought without the infusion of some lively topic. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 266 A feast of fish, of beaver, and venison, which relished well with men who had so long been glad to revel on horse flesh. 1866 Whittier Marg. Smith's Jrnl. Prose Wks. 1889 I. 13 The supper..relished quite as well as any I ever ate in the Old Country. |
b. transf. or fig. in various contexts (cf. next).
| 1600 Dekker Fortunatus Wks. 1873 I. 92 How sweete your howlings rellish in mine eares? 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 340 These antient Customs seem so to relish, as if those Islands had been subject to our Kings. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 89 One discommodity it hath, making all the other relish badly. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 219 This Part of Friday's Discourse began to relish with me very well. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas xii. i. ¶2 That precaution relished well with his excellency. 1827 Hood Hero & Leander ii, Was it that spectacles of sadder plights Should make our blisses relish the more high? |
† 6. fig. To be agreeable or pleasant; to find acceptance or favour (with one). Obs.
| 1594 Lyly Moth. Bomb. i. iii, Nothing can relish in their thoughtes that sauours of sweet youth. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. ii. 132 Had I beene the finder-out of this Secret, it would not haue rellish'd among my other discredits. 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. (1650) 248 Then will the Christian faith begin to relish with them. 1681 Tate Lear Prol., He hopes since in rich Shakespear's soil it grew 'Twill relish yet, with those whose Tasts are true. 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. i. To Rdr. (1709) 182 Indeed, if a Man sets up for a Sceptick, I don't expect the Argument should Relish. 1740 J. Clarke Educ. Youth (ed. 3) 33 If that relishes with the Publick. |
† b. To have a pleasant relish or taste. Obs.
| 1706 Watts Horæ Lyr. i. Remember your Creator iv, No more the blessings of a feast Shall relish on the tongue. c 1728 Earl of Ailesbury Mem. (1890) 714 One finds some dishes that relish amongst a quantity of very ill ones. |
Hence ˈrelishing vbl. n.
| 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 198 Friendship tastes very flat and insipid after the relishing of love. |
▪ V. † ˈrelish, v.2 Obs.
Also 6 ralish, rellish.
[app. f. relish n.2, but see also relesch.]
trans. To sing, to warble.
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. i. 20 First, you haue learn'd..to rellish a Loue-song, like a Robin-red-breast. 1593 ― Lucr. 1126 Ralish your nimble notes to pleasing eares. 1608 Heywood Lucrece Wks. 1874 V. 179 Whils't the King his willful Edicts makes..Hee's in a corner, relishing strange aires. |
▪ VI. relish, v.3 rare.
(ˈrɛlɪʃ)
[Cf. relish n.3]
† 1. intr. To project, jut out. Obs. rare—0.
| 1611 Cotgr., Forjetter, to iut, rellish, cope, leane out. |
2. trans. To make shoulders on (wood) in shaping tenons. Hence relishing machine (Knight).
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 749/2 Such stuff is relished at one operation and handling. |