Feast Meaning
/fiːst/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA holiday, festival, especially a religious one
nounA very large meal, often of a ceremonial nature.
Sentence Examples
The first virtue of a painting is to be a feast for the eyes.
What a feast we had when we visited my aunt!
CEFR Practice Quiz
The king ordered a grand ____ with roasted meats and sweet pies for all guests.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
After the long journey, the travelers were treated to a grand ____ with plenty of food and drink.
Word Origin & History
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. Displaced Old English winhate.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 13:6:
"Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 2:41:
"With my love's picture then my eye doth feast."
— 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:
"He that shall see this day, and live old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors
And say “Tomorrow is Saint Crispian.”"
— 1599 (date written), 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]:
"His ancestor, he said, had been feasted there, when he went forward with the then Lord Ravenswood to the fatal battle of Flodden, in which they both fell."
— 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume II (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The king ordered a grand ____ with roasted meats and sweet pies for all guests.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
After the long journey, the travelers were treated to a grand ____ with plenty of food and drink.