Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FEAST, n. [L. festum; Fr. fête; Sp. fiesta; It. festa; Ir. feasda; D. feest; G. fest.]

1. A sumptuous repast or entertainment, of which a number of guests partake; particularly, a rich or splendid public entertainment. On Pharaoh's birth-day, he made a feast to all his servants. Gen. xl.
2. A rich or delicious repast or meal; something delicious to the palate.
3. A ceremony of feasting; joy and thanksgiving. on stated days, in commemoration of some great event, or in honor of some distinguished personage; an anniversary, periodical or stated celebration of some event; a festival; as on occasion of the games in Greece, and the feast of the passover, the feast of Pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles among the Jews.
4. Something delicious and entertaining to the mind or soul; as, the dispensation of the Gospel is called a feast of fat things. Is. xxv.
5. That which delights and entertains. He that is of a merry heart bath a continual feast. Prov. xv. In the English church, feasts are immovable or movable: immovable, when they occur on the same day of the year, as, Christmas-day, &c.; and movable, when they are not confined to the same day of the year, as Easter, which regulates many others.

FEAST, v.i.

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.
2. To be highly gratified or delighted.

FEAST, v.t.

1. To entertain with sumptuous provisions; to treat at the table magnificently; as, he was feasted by the king. Hayward.
2. To delight; to pamper; to gratify luxuriously; as, to feast the soul. Whose taste or smell can bless the feasted sense. Dryden.

FEAST-ED, pp.

Entertained sumptuously; delighted.

FEAST-ER, n.

1. One who fares deliciously. Taylor.
2. One who entertains magnificently. Johnson.

FEAST-FUL, a.

1. Festive; joyful; as, a feastful day or friend. Milton.
2. Sumptuous; luxurious; as, feastful rites. Pope.

FEAST'FUL-LY, adv.

Festively; luxuriously.

FEAST-ING, n.

An entertainment

FEAST-ING, ppr.

1. Eating luxuriously; faring sumptuously.
2. Delighting; gratifying.
3. Entertaining with a sumptuous table.

FEAST-RITE, n.

Custom observed in entertainments. Philips.

FEAT, a.

Ready; skillful; ingenious. Never master had a page – so feat. [Obs.] Shak.

FEAT, n. [Fr. fait; It. fatto; L. factum, from facio, to perform.]

1. An act; a deed; an exploit; as, a bold feat; a noble feat; feats of prowess.
2. In a subordinate sense, any extraordinary act of strength, skill or cunning; as, feats of horsemanship, or of dexterity; a trick.

FEAT, v.t.

To form; to fashion. [Obs.] Shak.

FEAT-E-OUS, a.

Neat; dextrous.

FEAT-E-OUS-LY, adv.

Neatly; dextrously. [Obs.] Spenser.

FEATH'ER, or FETH'ER, n. [Sax. fether; G. feder; D. veder; Dan. fiær; Sw. fieder; allied probably to πτερον, and πεταλον, from πεταω, to open or expand.]

1. A plume; a general name of the covering of fowls. The smaller feathers are used for the filling of beds; the larger ones, called quills, are used for ornaments of the head, for writing pens, &c. The feather consists of a shaft or stem, corneous, round, strong and hollow at the lower part, and at the upper part, filled with pith. On each side of the shaft are the vanes, broad on one side and narrow on the other, consisting of thin lamins. The feathers which cover the body are called the plumage; the feathers of the wings are adapted to flight.
2. Kind; nature; species; from the proverbial phrase, “Birds of a feather,” that is, of the same species. [Unusual.] I am not of that feather to shake off / My friend, when he most needs me. Shak.
3. An ornament; an empty title.
4. On a horse, a sort of natural frizzling of the hair, which, in some places, rises above the lying hair, and there makes a figure resembling the tip of an ear of wheat. Far. Dict. A feather in the cap, is an honor, or mark of distinction. [Fether is the better spelling.]

FEATH'ER, or FETH'ER, v.t.

1. To dress in feathers; to fit with feathers, or to cover with feathers.
2. To tread as a cock. Dryden.
3. To enrich; to adorn; to exalt. The king cared not to plume his nobility and people, to feather himself. Bacon. To feather one's nest, to collect wealth, particularly from emoluments derived from agencies for others; a proverb taken from birds which collect feathers for their nests.

FEATH'ER-BED, or FETH'ER-BED, n.

A bed filled with feathers; a soft bed.

FEATH'ER-DRIV-ER, or FETH'ER-DRIV-ER, n.

One who beats feathers to make them light or loose. Derham.

FEATH'ER-ED, or FETH'ER-ED, pp.

1. Covered with feathers; enriched.
2. adj. Clothed or covered with feathers. A fowl or bird is a feathered animal. Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury. Shak.
3. Fitted or furnished with feathers; as, a feathered arrow.
4. Smoothed, like down or feathers. Scott.
5. Covered with things growing from the substance; as, land feathered with trees. Coxe.

FEATH'ER-EDGE, or FETH'ER-EDGE, n.

An edge like a feather. A board that has one edge thinner than the other, is called feather-edge stuff. Moxon.

FEATH'ER-EDG-ED, or FETH'ER-EDG-ED, a.

Having a thin edge.

FEATH'ER-FEW, n. [A corruption of Fever-few.]

FEATH'ER-GRASS, or FETH'ER-GRASS, n.

A plant. Johnson.

FEATH'ER-ING, or FETH'ER-ING, ppr.

Covering with feathers.