Meanings
feast1
plural feasts
- A holiday, festival, especially a religious one
The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 13:61 more example
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 - A very large meal, often of a ceremonial nature.
We had a feast to celebrate the harvest.
Synonyms: banquet
- figurativelySomething delightful and satisfying.
It was a feast for the eyes.
1 more example
Lenin took the view, which is still treated as a a dogma by the Communist movement, that revisionism came into being as an ideology reflecting the interests of the aristocracy of the working class, whom the bourgeoisie permitted to enjoy the 'left-overs' of their feast of prosperity.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 113
feast2
present singular third person feasts · participle present feasting · participle past feasted · past feasted
- intransitiveTo dwell upon (something) with delight.
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 - transitiveTo hold a feast in honor of (someone).
We feasted them after the victory.
2 more examples
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 - obsoletetransitiveTo 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.
Feast3
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA very large meal, often of a ceremonial nature.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
feast · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰéh₁s“god, godhead, deity”
- Proto-Italic*fēs-tos
- Latinfestum“holiday, festival, feast”
- Late Latinfesta
- Old Frenchfeste
- Middle Englishfeeste
- Englishfeast
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 wīnhāte.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →feast · verb
- Medieval Latinfestāre
- Old Frenchfester
- Middle Englishfeesten
- Englishfeast
From Middle English feesten, festen, from Old French fester, from Medieval Latin festāre, from the noun. See above.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Feast · proper noun
- Persianضیافت
- Middle Englishfest“fart”
- Middle Englishfist“fist”
- EnglishFeast
From either Middle English fist (“fist”), perhaps a nickname for an aggressive person, or from Middle English fest (“fart”). The Baháʼí sense is a calque of Calque of Persian ضیافت (ziyâfat).
More words from Middle English, Persian
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans feesmaal
- feesmaallarge, often ceremonial meal
Ancient Greek ἑορτή, ἑορτή
- ἑορτή (heortḗ)festival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- ἑορτή (heortḗ)large, often ceremonial meal
- θοίνη (thoínē)large, often ceremonial meal
- δαίς (daís)large, often ceremonial meal
- δαίνυμαι (daínumai)to partake in a feast
- θοινάω (thoináō)to hold a feast in honor of someone
Arabic وَلِيمَة, مَأْدُبَة
- وَلِيمَة (walīma)large, often ceremonial meal
- مَأْدُبَة (maʔduba)large, often ceremonial meal
Bengali ভোজ
- ভোজ (bhōj)large, often ceremonial meal
Bulgarian пир, пи́ршество
- пир (pir)large, often ceremonial meal
- пи́ршество (píršestvo)large, often ceremonial meal
- угощение (ugoštenie)large, often ceremonial meal
- гощавам (goštavam)to hold a feast in honor of someone
Catalan festa, festí
- festafestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- festílarge, often ceremonial meal
- banquetlarge, often ceremonial meal
Chinese Mandarin 盛宴, 筵席
- 盛宴 (shèngyàn)large, often ceremonial meal
- 筵席 (yánxí)large, often ceremonial meal
- 宴會 /宴会 (yànhuì)large, often ceremonial meal
Czech hostina
- hostinalarge, often ceremonial meal
Danish festmåltid
- festmåltidlarge, often ceremonial meal
Dutch feest, feestmaaltijd
- feestfestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- feestmaaltijdlarge, often ceremonial meal
Esperanto festeno, festeno
- festenofestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- festenolarge, often ceremonial meal
- bankedolarge, often ceremonial meal
- ĝojosomething delightful
- festenito partake in a feast
- regalito hold a feast in honor of someone
Finnish juhla, pidot
- juhlafestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- pidotlarge, often ceremonial meal
- syömingitlarge, often ceremonial meal
- kestitlarge, often ceremonial meal
- juhlatlarge, often ceremonial meal
- ilosomething delightful
French fête, festin
- fêtefestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- festinlarge, often ceremonial meal
- banquetlarge, often ceremonial meal
- festoyerto partake in a feast
German Fest, Festmahl
- Festfestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- Festmahllarge, often ceremonial meal
- Festessenlarge, often ceremonial meal
- Gastmahllarge, often ceremonial meal
- schlemmento partake in a feast
Greek γιορτή, πανηγύρι
- γιορτή (giortí)large, often ceremonial meal
- πανηγύρι (panigýri)large, often ceremonial meal
- ευωχία (evochía)large, often ceremonial meal
Hebrew אֲרוּחָה, סְעוּדָה
- אֲרוּחָה (arukhá)large, often ceremonial meal
- סְעוּדָה (seudá)large, often ceremonial meal
Hindi भोज, दावत
- भोज (bhoj)large, often ceremonial meal
- दावत (dāvat)large, often ceremonial meal
- जीमना (jīmnā)to partake in a feast
Hungarian ünnep, ünnepség
- ünnepfestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- ünnepségfestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- lakomalarge, often ceremonial meal
- gyönyörűségsomething delightful
- élvezetsomething delightful
- örömsomething delightful
- szívderítősomething delightful
Icelandic veisla
- veislalarge, often ceremonial meal
Indonesian pesta
- pestalarge, often ceremonial meal
Irish fleá, cóisir
- fleálarge, often ceremonial meal
- cóisirlarge, often ceremonial meal
Italian festa, festa
- festafestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- festalarge, often ceremonial meal
- banchettolarge, often ceremonial meal
Japanese 祭り, 饗宴
- 祭り (matsuri)festival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- 饗宴 (kyōen)large, often ceremonial meal
- 祝宴 (shukuen)large, often ceremonial meal
- ごちそう (gochisō)large, often ceremonial meal
Korean 연회
- 연회 (yeonhoe)large, often ceremonial meal
Latin epulum, daps
- epulumlarge, often ceremonial meal
- dapslarge, often ceremonial meal
- festumlarge, often ceremonial meal
- convīviumlarge, often ceremonial meal
- epulorto partake in a feast
Malay pesta, jamuan
- pestalarge, often ceremonial meal
- jamuanlarge, often ceremonial meal
- kendurilarge, often ceremonial meal
Māori hākari, haukai
- hākarilarge, often ceremonial meal
- haukailarge, often ceremonial meal
- whakatihilarge, often ceremonial meal
- kaihaukailarge, often ceremonial meal
Norwegian Bokmål etegilde
- etegildelarge, often ceremonial meal
Persian جشن, ضیافت
- جشن (jašn)large, often ceremonial meal
- ضیافت (ziyâfat)large, often ceremonial meal
- بزم (bazm)large, often ceremonial meal
Polish uczta, biesiada
- ucztalarge, often ceremonial meal
- biesiadalarge, often ceremonial meal
- ucztowaćto partake in a feast
Portuguese festa, banquete
- festafestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- banquetelarge, often ceremonial meal
- fartar-seto partake in a feast
Romanian banchet, festin
- banchetlarge, often ceremonial meal
- festinlarge, often ceremonial meal
- ospățlarge, often ceremonial meal
- zaiafetlarge, often ceremonial meal
Russian пир, пи́ршество
- пир (pir)large, often ceremonial meal
- пи́ршество (píršestvo)large, often ceremonial meal
- банке́т (bankét)large, often ceremonial meal
- засто́лье (zastólʹje)large, often ceremonial meal
- пировать (pirovatʹ)to partake in a feast
Scottish Gaelic fèill, fèist
- fèillfestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- fèistfestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- fèilllarge, often ceremonial meal
- cuirmlarge, often ceremonial meal
- fèistlarge, often ceremonial meal
Slovak hostina
- hostinalarge, often ceremonial meal
Spanish fiesta, festín
- fiestafestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- festínlarge, often ceremonial meal
- comilonalarge, often ceremonial meal
- ágapelarge, often ceremonial meal
- banquetelarge, often ceremonial meal
- convitelarge, often ceremonial meal
- comelonalarge, often ceremonial meal
- comilitonalarge, often ceremonial meal
- almorzadalarge, often ceremonial meal
- hartaderalarge, often ceremonial meal
- tragantonalarge, often ceremonial meal
- troleadalarge, often ceremonial meal
- banquetearseto partake in a feast
- banquetearto hold a feast in honor of someone
Swahili sikukuu, karamu
- sikukuufestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- karamularge, often ceremonial meal
Swedish fest, festmåltid
- festlarge, often ceremonial meal
- festmåltidlarge, often ceremonial meal
- kalasato partake in a feast
Tamil பண்டிகை, விருந்து
- பண்டிகை (paṇṭikai)festival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- விருந்து (viruntu)large, often ceremonial meal
- விருந்து (viruntu)something delightful
- விருந்துவை (viruntuvai)to hold a feast in honor of someone
- விருந்திடு (viruntiṭu)to hold a feast in honor of someone
Thai งานฉลอง
- งานฉลอง (ngaan-chà-lɔ̌ɔng)large, often ceremonial meal
Turkish şölen, toy
- şölenlarge, often ceremonial meal
- toylarge, often ceremonial meal
- ziyafetlarge, often ceremonial meal
Ukrainian бенке́т, пир
- бенке́т (benkét)large, often ceremonial meal
- пир (pyr)large, often ceremonial meal
- засті́лля (zastíllja)large, often ceremonial meal
Urdu دعوت, ضیافت
- دعوت (da'vat)large, often ceremonial meal
- ضیافت (ziyāfat)large, often ceremonial meal
Vietnamese tiệc, tiệc lớn
- tiệcfestival, holiday, solemn, or more commonly, joyous, anniversary
- tiệc lớnlarge, often ceremonial meal
- yến tiệclarge, often ceremonial meal
Welsh gŵyl, gwledda
- gŵyllarge, often ceremonial meal
- gwleddato partake in a feast
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with feast
Anagrams
Cite this entry
feast. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/feast
“feast.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/feast. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “feast,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/feast.
Source: feast on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.