1. [n]  something experienced with great delight; "a feast for the eyes"
2. [n]  an elaborate party (often outdoors)
3. [n]  a meal that is well prepared and greatly enjoyed; "a banquet for the graduating seniors"; "the Thanksgiving feast"
4. [n]  a ceremonial dinner party for many people
5. [v]  gratify; "feed one's eye on a gorgeous view"
6. [v]  partake in a feast or banquet
7. [v]  provide a feast or banquet for

1. \Feast\ (f[=e]st), n. [OE. feste festival, holiday, feast,
   OF. feste festival, F. f[^e]te, fr. L. festum, pl. festa, fr.
   festus joyful, festal; of uncertain origin. Cf. {Fair}, n.,
   {Festal}, {F[^e]te}.]
   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.
   
   Note: 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 commemo?ative
      festival.
   
   Syn: Entertainment; regale; banquet; treat; carousal;
        festivity; festival.
   
   Usage: {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.
   
   

2. \Feast\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Feasted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Feasting}.] [OE. festen, cf. OF. fester to rest from work,
   F. f[^e]ter 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.
   
   

3. \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.
   
   

as a mark of hospitality (Gen. 19:3; 2 Sam. 3:20; 2 Kings 6:23); on occasions of domestic joy (Luke 15:23; Gen. 21:8); on birthdays (Gen. 40:20; Job 1:4; Matt. 14:6); and on the occasion of a marriage (Judg. 14:10; Gen. 29:22).

Feasting was a part of the observances connected with the offering up of sacrifices (Deut. 12:6, 7; 1 Sam. 9:19; 16:3, 5), and with the annual festivals (Deut. 16:11). "It was one of the designs of the greater solemnities, which required the attendance of the people at the sacred tent, that the oneness of the nation might be maintained and cemented together, by statedly congregating in one place, and with one soul taking part in the same religious services. But that oneness was primarily and chiefly a religious and not merely a political one; the people were not merely to meet as among themselves, but with Jehovah, and to present themselves before him as one body; the meeting was in its own nature a binding of themselves in fellowship with Jehovah; so that it was not politics and commerce that had here to do, but the soul of the Mosaic dispensation, the foundation of the religious and political existence of Israel, the covenant with Jehovah. To keep the people's consciousness alive to this, to revive, strengthen, and perpetuate it, nothing could be so well adapated as these annual feasts." (See FESTIVALS.)