repast

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English[edit]

WOTD – 25 November 2021

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English repast, repaste (“feast, meal; food, nourishment; the Eucharist; refreshment, rest”) [and other forms],[1] from Anglo-Norman, Middle French, Old French repast, Middle French, Old French repas (“meal, repast; spiritual nourishment”) (modern French repas), probably from Medieval Latin, Late Latin repastus (“meal”), from repāstus, the perfect passive participle of repāscō (“to feed; to feed one after another”), from Latin re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + pāscō (“to feed, nourish; to pasture (an animal); of an animal: to browse, graze; to maintain, support”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect; to shepherd”)).[2]

Noun[edit]

repast (countable and uncountable, plural repasts)

  1. (countable)
    1. (archaic or literary) A meal.
      Synonyms: refection; see also Thesaurus:meal
      • [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], OCLC 946735316, page 4:
        After evening repaſt, till bed time their thoughts will be beſt taken up in the eaſie grounds of Religion, and the ſtory of Scripture.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 630–633:
        Forthwith from dance to ſweet repaſt they turn / Deſirous, all in Circles as they ſtood, / Tables are ſet, and on a ſudden pil'd / With Angels Food, and rubied Nectar flows: […]
      • 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432, lines 755–756, page 93:
        The Winter comes, and then the falling Maſt, / For greedy Swine, provides a full repaſt.
      • 1725, [Daniel Defoe], “Part II”, in A New Voyage Round the World, by a Course Never Sailed before. […], London: […] A[rthur] Bettesworth, […]; and W. Mears, […], OCLC 579994, page 118:
        We pitch'd our little Camp here, and ſet down to our Repaſt; for I found, that tho' we were to go back to lodge, yet my Patron had taken care we ſhould be furniſhed ſufficiently for Dinner, and have a good Houſe to eat it in; that is to ſay, a Tent, as before.
      • 1814, Lord Byron, “Canto I”, in The Corsair, a Tale, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], for John Murray, […], OCLC 1061889661, stanza II, lines 71–74, page 4:
        Earth's coarsest bread, the garden's homeliest roots, / And scarce the summer luxury of fruits, / His short repast in humbleness supply / With all a hermit's board would scarce deny.
      • 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, “Mr. Badger”, in The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, OCLC 305520, page 73:
        When at last they were thoroughly toasted, the Badger summoned them to the table, where he had been busy laying a repast.
      • 2010 September, Pseudonymous Bosch [pseudonym; Raphael Simon], “The Royal Kennels”, in This Isn’t What It Looks Like (The Secret Series; 4), New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 127:
        I do not run from the King, the King has run me out. Now that Lord Pharaoh has his ear, he says my sense of humor is in doubt. 'Tis true, tonight I ate my last of the royal repast.
    2. (obsolete) A period of refreshment or rest.
  2. (uncountable)
    1. (archaic) Food or drink that may be consumed as a meal.
    2. (archaic, figuratively) Something that is intellectually or spiritually nourishing.
      Synonym: refection
    3. (obsolete) The consumption of food; also, refreshment obtained from eating; (generally) refreshment; rest.
      Synonym: refection
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book I, canto II, stanza 4, page 20:
        Forthwith he runnes with feigned faithfull haſt / Vnto his gueſt, who after troublous ſights / And dreames gan now to take more ſound repaſt, […]
      • c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, OCLC 61366361; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], OCLC 1154977408, [Act IV, scene ii]:
        I do dine today at the fathers of a certaine pupill of mine, where if (before repaſt) it ſhall pleaſe you to gratifie the table with a Grace, I will on my priuiledge I haue with the parentes of the foreſaid childe or pupill, vndertake your bien venuto, where I will proue thoſe Verſes to be very vnlearned, neither fauoring of Poetrie, wit, nor inuention.
      • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Pictures of Eastern Nations, and the Jews at Their Feasts, Especially Our Saviour at the Passover”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], OCLC 152706203, 5th book, page 204:
        The other [room] was termed Triclinium, that is, Three beds encompaſſing a table, as may be ſeen in the figures thereof, and particularly in the Rhamnuſian Triclinium, ſet down by Mercurialis [Girolamo Mercuriale?]. The cuſtomary uſe hereof was probably deduced from the frequent uſe of bathing, after which they commonly retired to bed, and refected themſelves with repaſt; […]
      • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Oxford-shire”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, OCLC 418859860, page 328:
        [H]ow inconſiſtent is it with his gravity and goodneſs, to couple a ſpiritual grace with matters of corporeal repaſt: […]
      • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415, page 260:
        The Day already half his Race had run, / And ſummon'd him to due Repaſt at Noon, / But Love could feel no Hunger but his own.
      • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Guinevere”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], OCLC 911789798, pages 245–246:
        The silk pavilions of King Arthur raised / For brief repast or afternoon repose / By couriers gone before; […]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
(archaic or literary) meal — See also translations at meal

Etymology 2[edit]

Partly:[3]

Verb[edit]

repast (third-person singular simple present repasts, present participle repasting, simple past and past participle repasted)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (archaic) To supply (an animal or person) with food; to feed.
    2. (archaic, figuratively) To provide (a person) with intellectual or spiritual nourishment; to enlighten, to feed.
    3. (also reflexive, obsolete) To refresh (oneself or someone) through eating and drinking.
      • [1470–1485 (date produced)​, Thomas Malory, “Capitulum xiv”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book VII (in Middle English), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, OCLC 71490786, leaf 117, verso; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034, lines 25–29, page 234:
        [A]nd ſoo within a lytil whyle they came to that heremytage ⸝ and there they dranke the wyne ⸝ and ete the veneſon and the foules baken ⸝ And ſo whan they had repaſted hem wel ⸝ the dwarf retorned ageyn with his veſſel vn to the caſtel ageyne ⸝ […]
        And so within a little while they came to that hermitage, and there they drank the wine, and ate the venison and the baked fowls. And so when they had repasted themselves well, the dwarf returned again with his vessel unto the castle again, […]]
  2. (intransitive, obsolete, also figuratively) Usually followed by on or upon: to take food and drink; to feast, to feed.
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of repast
infinitive (to) repast
present tense past tense
1st-person singular repast repasted
2nd-person singular
3rd-person singular repasts
plural repast
subjunctive repast repasted
imperative repast —
participles repasting repasted
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to supply (an animal or person) with food — see feed
to provide (a person) with intellectual or spiritual nourishment — see enlighten

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “repā̆st(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Compare “repast, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “repast, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “repast, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
  4. ^ “repā̆sten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ “-en, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Old French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Medieval Latin, Late Latin repastus (“meal”), from repāstus, the perfect passive participle of repāscō (“to feed; to feed one after another”), from Latin re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + pāscō (“to feed, nourish; to pasture (an animal); of an animal: to browse, graze; to maintain, support”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect; to shepherd”)).

Noun[edit]

repast m (oblique plural repaz or repatz, nominative singular repaz or repatz, nominative plural repast)

  1. a meal
    • circa 1170, Wace, Le Roman de Rou:
      Mez li Dus ne vout prendre ne disner ne repast.
      But the Duke didn't want to eat dinner or any other meal.

Descendants[edit]

  • → English: repast
  • French: repas
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