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 sb.]
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. The Passion of our Lord, 85, in O. E. Misc., 39. As hit neyhlechet to heore muchele feste.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 441.
| Noblyche hys Ester feste he huld vor þys cas | |
| In hys vayr halle of Oxenford, þat þo nywe was. |
a. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 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. That he, the Saterday neghst after the fest of Seint Michael last passed, atte Wraweby, in the shire of Lincoln, dyd assemble greet noumbre of men armed and arrayed ageyn the pees.
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, XI. 352. He said, it was bot till a kyrkyn fest.
1526. Tindale, Luke xxii. 1. The feaste of swete breed drue nye whych is called ester, and the hye prestes and scrybes sought howe to kyll Jesus, but they feared the people.
a. 1550. Christis Kirke Gr., vi. For honor of the feist.
1570–6. Lambarde, A Perambulation of 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. We happened to be at Naples on Corpus Christi Day, the greatest feast in the year, so had an opportunity of seeing their Sicilian Majesties to advantage.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St. Pierre’s Studies of Nature (1799), III. 308. It is the feast of Jupiter, celebrated on Mount Lyceum, and people assemble here in multitudes from all Arcadia, and from a great part of Greece.
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. Arnolde, 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.
| That whan I should have gone to Blockam feast, | |
| I could not passe so sore they on me preast. |
1821. Clare, The Village Minstrel, I. 33, lxi.
| He knew the manners too of merry rout; | |
| Statute and feast his village yearly knew; | |
| And glorious revels too without a doubt | |
| Such pastimes were to Hob, and Nell, and Sue. |
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. ii. The great times for back-swording came round once a-year in each village, at the feast. The Vale ‘veasts’ were not the common statute feasts, but much more ancient business.
1864. W. Barnes, Vrom Hinton, in Macm. Mag., X. Oct., 476.
| Ah! then at the feäst, at the cool evenentide, | |
| I walk’d on wi’ you, an’ zome mwore at my zide. |
† 2. A gathering for pleasure or sports; a fête.
1485. Caxton, Paris & Vienna (1868), 13. The kyng ordeyned a Ioustes for the loue of the sayd thre ladyes & made his maundement that they al shold come wyth theyr armes and hors for to Iouste … and they that shold do best in armes at that day they shold haue the prys & the worshyp of the feste. Ibid. (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 Cité 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. Shaks., 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 & oþire fulke 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.
| And 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: | |
| Eat some, and pocket up the rest. |
1822. Shelley, Hellas, 1023.
| Darkness has dawned in the East | |
| On the noon of time: | |
| The death-birds descend to their feast, | |
| From the hungry clime. |
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 joye and feste, | |
| Bifore the ȝates of Paradys, in the lond of biheste. |
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. Ibid. (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. 729.
| The Scottis folk, that lyand war | |
| In-till the park, 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, The Cup, ii. Poems (1880), 762/2.
| I would that every man made feast to-day | |
| Beneath the shadow of our pines and planes! |
† 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, -companion, -guest, -house, -night, -rite, -robe; feast famous adj. b. objective, as feast-goer; feast-finding adj.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. ii. Every household, however poor, managed to raise a *‘feast-cake’ and bottle of ginger or raisin wine.
a. 1610. Healey, Theophrastus (1636), 40. His *feast-companions.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. v. 143.
| So, dainty Salmons, Chevins thunder-scar’d, | |
| *Feast-famous Sturgeons, Lampreys speckle-starr’d. |
1593. Shaks., The Rape of Lucrece, 817.
| The Orator to decke his oratorie, | |
| Will couple my reproach to Tarquins shame: | |
| *Feast-finding minstrels tuning my defame. |
1552. Huloet, *Feast-gestes which be inuited to the banquet or feast.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. ii. The frightened 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, Eve St. Agnes, xx.
| All cates and dainties shall be stored there | |
| Quickly on this *feast-night. |
1725. Pope, Odyss., X. 403.
| O thou of fraudful heart, shall I be led | |
| To share thy *feast-rites, or ascend thy bed. |
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. (1617), 94. He that was chief, should put off the residue of his Garments, and keeping on his *Feast-robe onely, wash the feet of them that were with him.
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. Holyday, Juvenal, 268.
| Whom lazing on their *Feast-beds day and night, | |
| The Sun found seav’n days after! A rough sight | |
| Ægypt’s here. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13131 (Cott.).
| Sant 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. Maundev. (Roxb.), viii. 30. Þai drink na wyne comounly, bot on hegh festu days.
1611. Bible, Amos v. 21. I hate, I despise your feast dayes, and I will not swell in your solemne assemblies.
a. 1746. E. 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, trans. More’s Utop., Epist. (Arb.), 26. Geuyng no thankes to the *feaste maker.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, 50. It [the word trechedipna] is sometimes taken for the feast-maker, and not in a sneering, but in an innocent sense.
1610. Healey, St. Augustine, Of the Citie of God, 521. Doth not the Bridegroome turne all the *feast-maisters … and all other out of his chamber.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 188.
| Then needs must the feastmasters strive | |
| Too pensive thoughts away to drive. |
1607. Shaks., Timon, II. ii. 180. *Feast won, fast lost.
