zest

plural zests

1. countableuncountableThe outer skin of a citrus fruit, used as a flavouring or garnish.

   The orange zest gives the strong flavor in this dish.

2. countableuncountableGeneral vibrance of flavour.

   I add zest to the meat by rubbing it with a spice mixture before grilling.

   2 more examples

   He rolled his own cigarettes from a sack of Bull Durham, spilling flakes into his beer, which no doubt gained in zest thereby.

   1959, Peter De Vries, The Tents of Wickedness, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., The Treehouse, Chapter 7, page 92

   Bashele’s dishes tasted as good as they had when I was a child. No one could give to the borscht such a sweet-and-sour zest as Bashele.

   1978, Isaac Bashevis Singer, translated by Joseph Singer et al., Shosha, New York: Fawcett Crest, Part One, Chapter Five, 1, p. 99

   Synonyms: punch, spice, tang, zing

3. broadlycountableuncountableEnthusiasm; keen enjoyment; exciting and interesting; relish or gusto; a state of being zesty.

   Auntie Mame had a real zest for life.

   5 more examples

   1728, Edward Young, Love of Fame, the Universal Passion, Satire II in The Works of the Reverend Edward Young, London: P. Brown, H. Hill & S. Payne, 1765, Volume I, p. 85, Almighty vanity! to thee they owe Their zest of pleasure, and their balm of woe.

   1807, Thomas Cogan, An Ethical Treatise on the Passions, Bath: Hazard & Binns, Part 1, Disquisition 1, Chapter 1, Section 1 “On the utility of the Passions and Affections,” p. 51, Liberality of disposition and conduct gives the highest zest and relish to social intercourse.

   And never did Isabella relieve a suffering fellow-creature, or assist a beloved sister, without blessing the dear, distant one that had made her rich, and kissing her sweet boy with new zest, as the son of his father.

   1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 139

   Once started, Mrs. Bolton was better than any book, about the lives of the people. She knew them all so intimately, and had such a peculiar, flamey zest in all their affairs, it was wonderful, if just a trifle humiliating to listen to her.

   1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 9, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Gutenberg edition, [Florence, Italy]: [ […] Tipografia Giuntina, […]], →OCLC; republished as Lady Chatterley’s Lover (eBook no. 0100181h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, August 2011, archived from the original on 11 Nov 2020

   The singers, male and female, wore blue jeans and long hair and had more zest than talent.

   1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York: Dell, published 1963, Book Two, Chapter 2, p. 221

   Synonyms: gusto, relish

4. countablerareuncountableThe woody, thick skin enclosing the kernel of a walnut.

   The green zest of walnuts was used by the women to shine their teeth and it also gave a beautiful rust colour to their lips.

   2006, N. J. Nusha, On the Edge (Short Stories), Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, page 85

5. countablederogatoryslanguncountableState of being a flamboyant or effeminate homosexual.

present singular third person zests · participle present zesting · participle past zested · past zested

1. cookingTo scrape the zest from a fruit.
2. To make more zesty.

   Strains ſo artleſs tho’ we proffer, Hearts o’er flowing zest the offer.

   1792, James Cobb, The Siege of Belgrade, a Comic Opera, in Three Acts, page 47