feast

See also: Feast

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: fēst, IPA^(key): /fiːst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːst

Etymology 1

From Middle English feeste, feste, borrowed from Old French feste, from Late Latin festa, from the plural of Latin festum (“holiday, festival, feast”), from Proto-Italic *fēs-tos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁s (“god, godhead, deity”); see also Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god, goddess”). More at theo-. Doublet of fete, fiesta, and fest.

Noun

feast (plural feasts)

1. A very large meal, often of a ceremonial nature.

   We had a feast to celebrate the harvest.

2. Something delightful

   It was a feast for the eyes.

3. A festival; a holy day or holiday; a solemn, or more commonly, a joyous, anniversary.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 13:6:

     The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 2:41:

     Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

Synonyms

• banquet

Derived terms

• a contented mind is a perpetual feast
• afterfeast
• Barmecide feast
• bean-feast
• bean feast
• bull feast
• double feast
• Dutch feast
• enough is as good as a feast
• feast day
• feaster
• feast for the eyes
• feastful
• feastly
• Feast of Asses
• Feast of Fools
• Feast of Light
• Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
• Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels
• Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
• Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
• Feast of Trumpets
• Feast of Tsing Ming
• Feast of Weeks
• feast one's eyes
• feast or famine
• feasty
• fixed feast
• forefeast
• ghost at the feast
• Great Feasts
• love feast
• midnight feast
• movable feast
• moveable feast
• postfeast
• run feast
• silver feast
• silver-feast
• skeleton at the feast
• smell-feast
• specter at the feast
• spectre at the feast

 

Translations

large, often ceremonial meal

• Afrikaans: feesmaal
• Aghwan: 𐕌𐕞𐕡𐕇𐔴𐕎 (müwx̣en)
• Albanian: gosti (sq) f
• Arabic: وَلِيمَة (ar) f (walīma), مَأْدُبَة f (maʔduba)
• Armenian: խնջույք (hy) (xnǰuykʿ), քեֆ (hy) (kʿef)
• Aromanian: uspets n, uspetsu
• Assamese: ভোজ (bhüz)
• Azerbaijani: ziyafət (az)
• Belarusian: пір m (pir), засто́лле n (zastóllje)
• Bengali: ভোজ (bn) (bhōj)
• Bulgarian: пир (bg) m (pir), пи́ршество (bg) n (píršestvo), угощение (bg) n (ugoštenie)
• Burmese: စားပွဲ (my) (ca:pwai:)
• Catalan: festí m, banquet (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 盛宴 (zh) (shèngyàn), 筵席 (zh) (yánxí), 宴會／宴会 (zh) (yànhuì)

• Chuukese: kametip
• Czech: hostina (cs) f
• Danish: festmåltid n
• Dutch: feestmaaltijd (nl) n
• Esperanto: festeno (eo)
• Finnish: pidot (fi) pl, syömingit pl, kestit pl, juhlat (fi) pl
• French: festin (fr) m, banquet (fr) m

  Middle French: feste f

• Friulian: fieste f
• Georgian: სუფრა (supra), სერი (seri), ლხინი (lxini), ნადიმი (nadimi)
• German: Festmahl (de) n, Festessen (de) n, Gastmahl (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍄𐍃 f (dauhts), 𐌳𐌿𐌻𐌸𐍃 f (dulþs)
• Greek: γιορτή (el) f (giortí), πανηγύρι (el) n (panigýri), ευωχία (el) f (evochía)

  Ancient: ἑορτή f (heortḗ), θοίνη f (thoínē), δαίς f (daís)

• Hebrew: אֲרוּחָה (he) f (arukhá), סְעוּדָה (he) f (seudá) (formally, literally)
• Hindi: भोज (hi) m (bhoj), दावत (hi) f (dāvat)
• Hungarian: lakoma (hu)
• Icelandic: veisla (is) f
• Indonesian: pesta (id)
• Ingrian: piot
• Irish: fleá f, cóisir f
• Italian: festa (it) f, banchetto (it) m
• Japanese: 饗宴 (ja) (きょうえん, kyōen), 祝宴 (ja) (しゅくえん, shukuen), ごちそう (ja) (gochisō) (treat)
• Kazakh: той (toi)
• Khmer: បណីតាហារ (km) (paʼnəytaahaa)
• Korean: 연회(宴會) (ko) (yeonhoe)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ziyafet (ku), çeşn (ku), bezm (ku)

• Kyrgyz: той (ky) (toy)
• Ladino: fiesta f, pranso m
• Lao: ງານລ້ຽງ (ngān līang), ຊຸມເຂົ້າ (sum khao)
• Latin: epulum n, daps f, festum n, convīvium n
• Lushootseed: sʔuʔəɬadəp, sʔəɬədalikʷ
• Macedonian: гозба f (gozba), пир m (pir)
• Malay: pesta, jamuan (ms), kenduri (ms)
• Maltese: festa
• Manchu: ᠰᠠᡵᡳᠨ (sarin)
• Maori: hākari, haukai, whakatihi, kaihaukai
• Meru: kiatho
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: найр (mn) (najr)

• Norman: r'pas rouoya m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: etegilde n

• Old French: feste f
• Oromo: nyaachisa
• Pashto: بزم (ps) m (bazm), جشن (ps) m (ǰašᶕn)
• Persian: جشن (fa) (jašn), ضیافت (fa) (ziyâfat), بزم (fa) (bazm)
• Pohnpeian: kamadipw
• Polish: uczta (pl) f, biesiada (pl) f
• Portuguese: banquete (pt)
• Rapa Nui: koro, gogoro
• Romanian: banchet (ro) n, festin (ro) n, ospăț (ro) n
• Russian: пир (ru) m (pir), пи́ршество (ru) n (píršestvo), банке́т (ru) m (bankét), засто́лье (ru) n (zastólʹje)
• Sanskrit: प्सरस् (sa) n (psaras)
• Scottish Gaelic: féill f, cuirm f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гозба f, пир m

  Roman: gozba (sh) f, pir (sh) m

• Slovak: hostina (sk) f
• Slovene: pojedina f
• Spanish: festín (es), fiesta (es), comilona (es) f, ágape (es) m, banquete (es) m, agasajo (es) m, convite (es) m
• Swahili: karamu (sw)
• Swedish: fest (sv) c, festmåltid (sv) c
• Tajik: ҷашн (tg) (jašn), зиёфат (ziyofat), базм (bazm)
• Tamil: விருந்து (ta) (viruntu)
• Telugu: విందు (te) (vindu)
• Thai: งานฉลอง (ngaan-chà-lɔ̌ɔng)
• Turkish: şölen (tr), toy (tr), ziyafet (tr)
• Udi: мугин (mugin)
• Ukrainian: бенке́т (uk) m (benkét), пир m (pyr), засті́лля n (zastíllja)
• Urdu: دعوت f (da'vat), ضیافت f (ziyāfat)
• Uyghur: زىياپەت (ziyapet)
• Uzbek: bazm (uz), ziyofat (uz), toʻy (uz)
• Vietnamese: tiệc lớn, yến tiệc (vi)
• Welsh: gŵyl (cy) f
• Yup'ik: nerevkarin

something delightful

• Finnish: ilo (fi)
• Hungarian: gyönyörűség (hu), élvezet (hu), öröm (hu), szívderítő (hu)

festival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary

• Arabic:

  Moroccan Arabic: عيد m (ʕīd), حفلة f (ḥafla)

• Catalan: festa (ca) f
• Dutch: feest (nl) n
• Esperanto: festeno (eo)
• Finnish: juhla (fi)
• French: fête (fr) f
• Galician: festa (gl) f
• German: Fest (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἑορτή f (heortḗ)

• Hungarian: ünnep (hu), ünnepség (hu)
• Italian: festa (it) f
• Japanese: 祭り (ja) (matsuri)
• Maltese: festa f
• Maranao: kakilang
• Ottoman Turkish: بیرام (bayram) (religious feast)
• Portuguese: festa (pt) f
• Spanish: fiesta (es) f
• Swahili: sikukuu (sw) class 9/10
• Vietnamese: tiệc (vi)
• Walloon: fiesse (wa) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ზადიკი (zadiḳi), ^{(please verify)} ქეიფი (keipi), ^{(please verify)} მეჯლისი (meǯlisi)

Etymology 2

From Middle English feesten, festen, from Old French fester, from Medieval Latin festāre, from the noun. See above.

Verb

feast (third-person singular simple present feasts, present participle feasting, simple past and past participle feasted)

1. (intransitive) To partake in a feast, or large meal.

   I feasted on turkey and dumplings.

2. (intransitive) To dwell upon (something) with delight.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 47”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     With my love's picture then my eye doth feast.

3. (transitive) To hold a feast in honor of (someone).
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     He that shall see this day, and live old age,
     Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors
     And say “Tomorrow is Saint Crispian.”

   We feasted them after the victory.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To serve as a feast for; to feed sumptuously.
   • 1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum

     Or once a week, perhaps, for novelty / Reez'd bacon-soords shall feast his family.

Derived terms

• feaster
• feasting
• feast one’s eyes

Translations

to partake in a feast

• French: festoyer (fr)
• German: schlemmen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌳𐌿𐌻𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (dulþjan)
• Greek:

  Ancient: δαίνυμαι (daínumai)

• Latin: epulor
• Spanish: banquetear (es)
• Swedish: kalasa (sv)

to hold a feast in honor of someone

• Greek:

  Ancient: θοινάω (thoináō)

Anagrams

• Fates, Festa, TAFEs, fates, feats, festa, fetas