banquet
noun
- large meal or feast
verb
- feast
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈbæŋkwɪt/ / /ˈbæŋkɪt/
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bankiz Proto-West Germanic *banki Lombardic bankbor. Italian banco Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tosder.? Late Latin -ittus Italian -etto Italian banchettoder. Middle French banquetbor. Middle English banket English banquet From Middle English banket, from Middle French banquet, from Italian banchetto (“light repast between meals, snack eaten on a small bench”, literally “a small bench”), from banco (“bench”), from Lombardic *bank, *panch (“bench”), from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bench”). Akin to Old High German bank, banch (“bench”), Old English benċ (“bench”). More at bank, bench. The unetymological /w/ resulted from spelling-pronunciation.
- A large celebratory meal; a feast.
“True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant, And in his commendations I am fed; / It is a banquet to me.”
“And Esther answered, If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.”
- A ceremonial dinner party for many people.
- A dessert; a course of sweetmeats.
“Wee'll dine in the great roome, but let the muſick / And banquet be prepar'd here.”
“At Inverkeithing the teetotalers objected to this profligate expenditure, so the Provost and magistrates manfully paid for their “cookies” out of their own pockets. At Dunse, instead of a cake and wine banquet, there was “a fruit conversazione,” whatever that may be.”
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bankiz Proto-West Germanic *banki Lombardic bankbor. Italian banco Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tosder.? Late Latin -ittus Italian -etto Italian banchettoder. Middle French banquetbor. Middle English banket English banquet From Middle English banket, from Middle French banquet, from Italian banchetto (“light repast between meals, snack eaten on a small bench”, literally “a small bench”), from banco (“bench”), from Lombardic *bank, *panch (“bench”), from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bench”). Akin to Old High German bank, banch (“bench”), Old English benċ (“bench”). More at bank, bench. The unetymological /w/ resulted from spelling-pronunciation.
- To participate in a banquet; to feast.
“I am resolved; 'tis but a three years' fast: / The mind shall banquet, though the body pine: / Fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits / Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits.”
“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.”
- To have dessert after a feast.
“1580, George Cavendish, quoted by John Stow (ed.), The Annales of England, Faithfully collected out of the most autenticall Authors, Records, and other Monuments of Antiquitie, 1600 edition, “Henry the eight.,” p. 907, Then was the banquetting chamber in the tilt yard at Greenewich, to the which place these strangers were conducted by the noblest personages in the court, where they did both sup and banquet.”
- To treat with a banquet or sumptuous entertainment of food; to feast.
“Not possible; for who shall bear your part / And be in Padua here Vincentio's son; / Keep house and ply his book, welcome his friends, / Visit his countrymen, and banquet them?”
“1800, Frederick Schiller, The Piccolomini, or the First Part of Wallenstein, translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, London: Longman & Rees, Act I, scene i, p. 2, Just in time to banquet The illustrious company assembled there.”