regale

plural regales

1. rareA feast, a meal.

   And now a maiden […] ſupplied them, next, / With a reſplendent table, which the chaſte / Directreſs of the ſtores furniſh'd with bread / And dainties, remnants of the laſt regale.

   1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book I.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 9, lines 172 and 174–177

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   The noise from the servants' hall was rendered more acutely painful by her headach; for her aunt, partly with a view of annoying her niece, whom she disliked—as we always dislike those we have used ill—had left orders for a general regale.

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 136

2. archaica choice article of food or drink.
3. archaicrefreshment.

present singular third person regales · participle present regaling · participle past regaled · past regaled

1. transitiveTo please or entertain (someone), especially with stories, tales or jokes.First known use 17th c.

   Please, regale us with your best tales!

   1 more example

   You’ve Got Mail is certainly the basic model for the plot, which finds corporate candy shill Joel ([Paul] Rudd) and indie-sweetshop owner Molly ([Amy] Poehler) regaling their dinner companions with the very long, digressive story of how they met and fell in love.

   2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2017

2. transitiveTo provide hospitality for (someone); to supply with abundant food and drink.First known use 17th c.
3. intransitiveobsoleteTo feast (on, with something).First known use 17th–19th c.

   she hardly lets a Week pass without making the Lady Abbess and her Nuns a Visit, to regale with a Cup of burnt Brandy.

   1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, section V

4. figurativelytransitiveTo entertain with something that delights; to gratify; to refresh.

   to regale the taste/the eye/the ear