verb. (venery).—To know carnally; TO ENJOY (q.v.). Hence TASTY-BIT (or MORSEL) = a JUICY wench (q.v.).

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  1602.  SHAKESPEARE, Othello, iii. 3. 345.

        Oth.  I had been happy, if the general camp,
Pioneers, and all, had TASTED her sweet body,
So I had nothing known.
    Ibid. (1605), Cymbeline, ii. 4. 57.
  Post.        If you can make ’t apparent
That you have TASTED her in bed, my hand,
And ring is yours.

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  1628.  EARLE, Microcosmographie, 1. A Childe is a Man in a small Letter, yet the best Copie of Adam before hee TASTED of Eue, or the Apple.

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  1638.  CAREW, Counsel to a Young Maid, No. 2 [EBSWORTH, 22].

        So shalt thou be despis’d, fair maid,
  When by the sated lover TASTED.

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  d. 1704.  T. BROWN, To a Young Lady, in Works, i. 74.

        Then having let us see, pray let us TASTE
Those dear conceal’d Delights below the Waste.

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  TASTE OF THE CREATURE, subs. phr. (old).—A dram; a drink; esp. of whiskey. See CRATER, and add quots., infra.

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  c. 1570.  THYNNE, The Debate between Pride and Lowliness (1841), 60.

        And that the CREATURE [wine] of proper kinde
  Was good, though we offenden therewithall.

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  1604.  SHAKESPEARE, Othello, ii. 3. 313. Come, come, good wine is a good familiar CREATURE, if it be well us’d.

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  1638.  PENKETHMAN, Artachthos, Kiij. The moderate use of the CREATURE, and sparing Dyet, which is very little practised.

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  1690.  DRYDEN, Amphitryon, iii. 1. Phæd. I find my Master took too much of the CREATURE last Night.

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  1694.  MOTTEUX, Rabelais, V. xxxvi. This was the place where we were to have a TASTE OF THE CREATURE.

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  1758.  SMOLLETT, The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom, xiii. The German … never went to bed without a full dose of the CREATURE.

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  1827.  HONE, The Every-day Book, II. 286. His followers … take a little CRATHUR.

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  1888.  Standard, 14 Aug., 2. Says he, ‘Maggie,’ have a drop of the CRATUR.

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  A NASTY TASTE IN ONE’S MOUTH, subs. phr. (colloquial).—An unpleasant feeling: regret, loathing, anxiety, etc.

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  1899.  R. WHITEING, No. 5 John Street, xxv. Never before have I heard such a speech…. ‘Sort o’ gives yer a NASTY TASTE IN THE MOUTH,’ says Low Covey.

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