feast

I drank at every vine.
The last was like the first.
I came upon no wine
So wonderful as thirst.

I gnawed at every root.
I ate of every plant.
I came upon no fruit
So wonderful as want.

Feed the grape and bean
To the vintner and monger:
I will lie down lean
With my thirst and my hunger.

--from The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems, 1923, Edna St. Vincent Millay

Feast (?), n. [OE. feste festival, holiday, feast, OF. feste festival, F. fete, fr. L. festum, pl. festa, fr. festus joyful, festal; of uncertain origin. Cf. Fair, n., Festal, Fte.]

1.

A festival; a holiday; a solemn, or more commonly, a joyous, anniversary.

The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. Ex. xiii. 6.

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. Luke ii. 41.

⇒ Ecclesiastical fasts are called immovable when they always occur on the same day of the year; otherwise they are called movable.

2.

A festive or joyous meal; a grand, ceremonious, or sumptuous entertainment, of which many guests partake; a banquet characterized by tempting variety and abundance of food.

Enough is as good as a feast. Old Proverb.

Belshazzar the King made a great feast to a thousand of his lords. Dan. v. 1.

3.

That which is partaken of, or shared in, with delight; something highly agreeable; entertainment.

The feast of reason, and the flow of soul. Pope.

Feast day, a holiday; a day set as a solemn commemoative festival.

Syn. -- Entertainment; regale; banquet; treat; carousal; festivity; festival. -- Feast, Banquet, Festival, Carousal. A feast sets before us viands superior in quantity, variety, and abudance; a banquet is a luxurious feast; a festival is the joyful celebration by good cheer of some agreeable event. Carousal is unrestrained indulgence in frolic and drink.

© Webster 1913.

Feast, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Feasted; p. pr. & vb. n. Feasting.] [OE. festen, cf. OF. fester to rest from work, F. feter to celebrate a holiday. See Feast, n.]

1.

To eat sumptuously; to dine or sup on rich provisions, particularly in large companies, and on public festivals.

And his sons went and feasted in their houses. Job. i. 4.

2.

To be highly gratified or delighted.

With my love's picture then my eye doth feast. Shak.

© Webster 1913.

Feast, v. t.

1.

To entertain with sumptuous provisions; to treat at the table bountifully; as, he was feasted by the king.

Hayward.

2.

To delight; to gratify; as, to feast the soul.

Feast your ears with the music a while. Shak.

© Webster 1913.