feast
part of speech
noun (a feast, feasts); verb (feast, feasts, feasted, feasting)
meaning for a pupil
1) (noun) A large, special meal with lots of food, often for a celebration. tree →
2) (noun) A religious festival day. tree →
3) (verb) To eat a lot of good food with enjoyment: «feast on». tree →
4) (noun) Something very enjoyable for the senses: «a feast for the eyes». tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories, kings hold feasts and banquets. In everyday life, family celebrations can be a feast. In nature: birds feast on berries. Phrases: «feast your eyes on» (look at with pleasure), «a midnight feast» (a secret snack party, popular in school stories).
examples
- The king held a great feast in the hall. tree →
- We had a feast at Gran's house. tree →
- The birds feasted on the berries. tree →
- The children had a midnight feast at the sleepover. tree →
- The garden in spring is a feast for the eyes. tree →
- Feast your eyes on this cake! tree →
- Ants feasted on the dropped jam sandwich. tree →
- And what a feast that was! tree →
note
Countable noun. Verb usually with «on»: feast on fruit. «Feast or famine» means too much or too little. In maths, feast problems often share food equally: total ÷ guests.
In the corpora
- The same dandelion is a weed on Dad's lawn and a feast for the first bees of spring.
- No landing allowed»; there are stables and a very old banqueting-hall (a big dining hall for feasts).
- On the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada, chiefs won respect by giving huge gifts at feasts called potlatches.
- The father ran to welcome the younger son and threw a feast for him.
- The first Pentecost happened during a Jewish harvest feast, Shavuot, held fifty days after Passover.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «feast» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.