[f. FEAST v. + -ER1.]
† 1. The giver of a feast, host, entertainer. Obs.
c. 1425. Festivals Church, 294, in Legends of the Holy Rood (1871), 220.
| But at þe feest of mesure met, | |
| Wyn of water god wrouȝt well, | |
| Neuer festour fedde better. |
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Matt. xiv. 18. A feaster and a feader of the bodies.
1587. Turberv., Trag. T. (1837), 40.
| Where earst the knight had had the maid in chace: | |
| The feaster prayde eche one to take his place. |
1611. Cotgr., Festivant, a feaster or feast maker.
2. One who is in the habit of feasting; a luxurious liver.
a. 1633. Austin, Medit. (1635), 84. Thou shalt have more Ioy, in the continuall Feast of a good Conscience; then the worldly Feasters have.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, 50. Implying, that the Romans once plain and thrifty were now become Feasters.
1670. Milton, Hist. Eng., I. Wks. (1847), 482/2. Lud was hardy, and bold in war; in peace, a jolly feaster.
1725. Pope, Odyss., III. 401.
| Lest heedless absence wear thy wealth away, | |
| While lawless feasters in thy palace sway. |
1806. W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., IV. 231/2. The fatigued labourer must not be blooded so often as the pampered feaster.
3. One who partakes of a feast; a guest.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, III. xiv.
| Among the feasters waited near, | |
| Sorrow, and unrepentant Fear. |
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. iv. 187. What music on the feasters fell.
