taste
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- tast (obsolete)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English tasten, borrowed from Old French taster, from assumed Vulgar Latin *tastāre, from assumed Vulgar Latin *taxitāre, a new iterative of Latin taxāre (“to touch sharply”), from tangere (“to touch”). Almost displaced native Middle English smaken, smakien (“to taste”) (from Old English smacian (“to taste”)), Middle English smecchen (“to taste, smack”) (from Old English smæċċan (“to taste”)) (whence Modern English smack), Middle English buriȝen (“to taste”) (from Old English byrigan, birian (“to taste”)).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
taste (countable and uncountable, plural tastes)
- One of the sensations produced by the tongue in response to certain chemicals; the quality of giving this sensation.
- He had a strange taste in his mouth.
- Venison has a strong taste.
- The sense that consists in the perception and interpretation of this sensation.
- His taste was impaired by an illness.
- A small sample of food, drink, or recreational drugs.
- (countable and uncountable) A person's implicit set of preferences, especially esthetic, though also culinary, sartorial, etc.
- Dr. Parker has good taste in wine.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
- "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess[1]:
- The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.
- Personal preference; liking; predilection.
- I have developed a taste for fine wine.
- (uncountable, figuratively) A small amount of experience with something that gives a sense of its quality as a whole.
- A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon.
Synonyms[edit]
- (sensation produced by the tongue): smack, smatch; See also Thesaurus:gustation
- (set of preferences): discernment, culture, refinement, style
- (personal preference): See also Thesaurus:predilection
- (small amount of experience): impression, sample, trial
Hyponyms[edit]
Meronyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb[edit]
taste (third-person singular simple present tastes, present participle tasting, simple past and past participle tasted)
- (transitive) To sample the flavor of something orally.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, John 2:9:
- when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine
- (intransitive, copulative) To have a taste; to excite a particular sensation by which flavour is distinguished.
- The chicken tasted great, but the milk tasted like garlic.
- To experience.
- I tasted in her arms the delights of paradise.
- They had not yet tasted the sweetness of freedom.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Hebrews 2:9:
- He […] should taste death for every man.
- c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, Act II, scene ii, page 117, column 1:
- Cowards dye many times before their deaths, / The valiant neuer taſte of death but once: […]
- 1667, John Milton, “Book 7”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- Thou […] wilt taste / No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitarie.
- To take sparingly.
- 1699, John Dryden, Epistle to John Drydentastes%20of%20pleasures%2C%20youth%20devours%22&f=false
- Age but tastes of pleasures, youth devours.
- 1699, John Dryden, Epistle to John Drydentastes%20of%20pleasures%2C%20youth%20devours%22&f=false
- To try by eating a little; to eat a small quantity of.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 1 Samuel 14:29:
- I tasted a little of this honey.
- (obsolete) To try by the touch; to handle.
- 1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, OCLC 1002865976; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, OCLC 987451380:
- to taste the bow
Synonyms[edit]
- (sample the flavor of something): smack, smake; See also Thesaurus:taste
- (have a taste): hint, smack; See also Thesaurus:have taste
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Further reading[edit]
- taste in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- taste in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.
- taste at OneLook Dictionary Search
- "taste" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 313.
Anagrams[edit]
Danish[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- Rhymes: -astə
Verb[edit]
taste (imperative tast, infinitive at taste, present tense taster, past tense tastede, perfect tense har/er tastet)
- To type
Conjugation[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (file)
Verb[edit]
taste
German[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (file)
Verb[edit]
taste
- inflection of tasten:
Norwegian Bokmål[edit]
Verb[edit]
taste (imperative tast, present tense taster, passive tastes, simple past and past participle tasta or tastet, present participle tastende)
- to type (on a computer keyboard or typewriter)
Related terms[edit]
References[edit]
- “taste” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Serbo-Croatian[edit]
Noun[edit]
taste (Cyrillic spelling тасте)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English copulative verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Taste
- Danish lemmas
- Danish verbs
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms
- German terms with audio links
- German non-lemma forms
- German verb forms
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål verbs
- Serbo-Croatian non-lemma forms
- Serbo-Croatian noun forms