Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TASTE, v.t. [Fr. tâter, to feel; It. tastare; Norm. taster, to touch, to try; G. and D. tasten; Dan. tasser. The Dutch has toetsen, to touch, to try, to test; Dan. taster and, to attack or assault. This shows that the primary sense is to thrust or drive; allied perhaps to dash; hence to strike, to touch, to bring one thing in contact with another.]

1. To perceive by means of the tongue; to have a certain sensation in consequence of something applied to the tongue, the organ of taste; as, to taste bread; to taste wine; to taste a sweet or an acid.
2. To try the relish of by the perception of the organs of taste.
3. To try by eating a little; or to eat a little. Because I tasted a little of this honey. 1 Sam. xiv.
4. To essay first. Dryden.
5. To have pleasure from. Carew.
6. To experience; to feel; to undergo. That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Heb. ii.
7. To relish intellectually; to enjoy. Thou, Adam, wilt taste no pleasure. Milton.
8. To experience by shedding, as blood. When Commodus had once tasted human blood, he became incapable of pity or remorse. Gibbon.