feast 
to show gladness ; pay flattering attention ; give friendly 
entertainment. 
I lykne hir to the scorpioun, 
That ys a fals, flateyrynge hcste, 
For with his liede he makethfeste, 
But al tuiiydde his Bateiynge, 
With his tayle hyt wol stynge 
And envenyme, and so wol she. 
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 638. 
= Syn. 2. Feast, Banquet, Festival. The idea of a social 
meal of unusual richness or abundance, for the purposes 
of pleasure, may be common to these words. Feast is 
generic; specifically, it differs from banquet in the fact 
that at a fcat the food is abundant and choice, while at a 
banquet there is richness or expeiisivi-m-ss, mid especially 
pomp or ceremony. The essential characteristic of & fes- 
tival is concurrence in the manifestation of joy, the joyous 
celebration of some event, feasting being a frequent but 
not necessary part : as, to hold high festiral. See carou- 
tatl. 
When I make a .feast, 
I would my guests should praise it, not the cooks. 
Sir J. Harington, Writers that carp, etc. 
Go to your bam/uet then, but nse delight 
So as to rise still with an appetite. 
Herriclc, Hespcrides, cccxli. 
E'agan converts whose idolatrous worship had been made 
up of sacred festivals, and who very readily abused these 
to gross riot, as appears from the censure of St. Paul. 
Emerson, The Lord's Supper. 
feast (fest), v. [< ME. feesten, festen, < OF. 
fester (mod. F.ftter) = It. festare, < ML. festare, 
feast; from the noun.] I. intrans. 1. To make 
a feast ; have a feast; eat sumptuously or abun- 
dantly. 
And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one 
his day. Job i. 4. 
We feast and sing, 
Dance, kiss, and coll. 
Middleton, The Witch, i. 2. 
Dear to Arthur was that hall of ours, 
As having there so oft with all his knights 
Feasted. Tennyson, Holy Grail. 
2. Figuratively, to dwell with gratification or 
delight: as, to feast on a poem or a picture. 
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight, 
And by and by clean starved for a look. 
Shak., Sonnets, Ixxv. 
II. trans. 1. To provide with a feast; enter- 
tain with sumptuous fare. 
King Richard swore, on sea or shore, 
He never was feasted better. 
The Kings Disguise (Child's Ballads, V. 379). 
I do feast to-night 
My best-esteem'd acquaintance. 
Shak., M. of V., ii. 2. 
The King feasted my Lord once, and it lasted from 
Eleven of the Clock till towards the Evening. 
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 2. 
2. To delight; pamper; gratify luxuriously: 
as, to feast the soul. 
We cannot feast your eyes with masques and revels, 
Or courtly antics. Beau, and FL, Laws of Candy, iii. 2. 
Whose taste or smell can bless the feasted sense. 
Dryden. 
I am never weary of ... feasting a foolish gaze on sun- 
cracked plaster and unctuous indoor shadows. 
H. James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 149. 
feast-day (fest'da), n. [= D. feestdag = G. 
festtag = Dan. Sw. festdag.~\ A day of feast- 
ing and rejoicing; a festival; especially, the 
day of an ecclesiastical feast. 
The prodigious increase of feast-days in the Christian 
church commenced toward the close of the fourth century. 
Kees's Cyc., art. Feast. 
feaster 1 (fes'ter), w. [< ME. festour, < festen, 
feast.] One who feasts, or who gives a feast 
or an entertainment. 
Keuer festour f edde better. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 220. 
Lud was hardy, and bold in Warr, in Peace a jolly Feaster. 
Milton, Hist. Eng., i. 
feaster 2 t, " An obsolete form of fester. 
feastful (fest'ful), a. [< feast + -/*.] Fes- 
tive; joyful; sumptuous; luxurious: as, feast- 
ful rites. 
The virgins also shall, on feastful days, 
Visit his tomb with flowers. Milton, S. A. , 1. 1741. 
Therefore be sure, 
Thou, when the bridegroom with his feastful friends 
Passes to bliss at the mid hour of night, 
Hast gain'd thy entrance. Milton, Sonnets, iv. 
Singing and murmuring in \ierfeastful mirth, 
Joying to feel herself alive. 
Tennyson, Palace of Art. 
feastfully (fest'ful-i), adv. In a luxurious man- 
ner; festively. Imp. Diet. [Rare.] 
feastlyt (fest'li), a. [< ME. festlich (= G. fest- 
lich = Dan. Svr.festlig, festive, solemn); (feast 
+ -fy 1 .] Used to or fond of festival occasions. 
A festlich man, as fresh as May. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 273. 
feat 1 (fet), . [< ME. feet, fete, faite, deed, fact, 
matter, < OF. (and F.) fait, deed, fact, < L./ac- 
2163 
turn, deed, fact: see fact, of which feafl is a 
doublet.] A deed; especially, a noteworthy 
or extraordinary act or performance; an ex- 
ploit : as, feats of arms ; feats of horsemanship 
or of dexterity. 
Also Sonnday And Munday, And was shewyd ther many 
Dy verse fetis of werre. 
Torkiwjtmi, Marie of Eng. Travell, p. 63. 
The feat of merchandizing is nowhere condemned 
throughout the holy Srriptures. 
Bullinger, Sermons (trans.), II. 31. 
You have shown all Hectors. 
Enter the city, clip your wives, your friends, 
Tell them your/eo(. Shak., A. and C., iv. 8. 
They showed him also the jawbone with which Samson 
did such mighty feats. Banyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 124. 
= Syn. Deed, Feat, Exploit, Achievement. These words 
are arranged in the order of strength ; deed, however, 
may have a much more elevated character than feat, and 
even surpass exploit. A deed may, on the other hand, be 
base or ignoble. It is, therefore, often accompanied by 
an adjective of quality. A feat is generally an act of re- 
markable skill or strength : as, the feats of a juggler, a 
ventriloquist, an athlete. An exploit is especially an act 
of boldness or bravery, with various degrees of mental 
power in working it out. An achievement is the result of 
large ability in planning, and diligence and boldness in 
executing. Feat, exploit and achievement differ from act, 
action, and deed in that the first three always, and the last 
three only sometimes, represent something great. 
Nor florid prose, nor honeyed lies of rhyme 
Can blazon evil deeds, nor consecrate a crime. 
Byron, Childe Harold, i. 3. 
He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, 
doing in the figure of a lamb, the/ea( of a lion. 
Shak., Much Ado, i. 1. 
First from the ancient world those giants came, 
With many a vain exploit. Milton, P. L., iii. 466. 
Great is the rumour of this dreadful knight, 
And his achievements of no less account. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 3. 
feat 1 ! (fet), i). t. [Appar. < feafl-, n., but prob. 
with ref. to feature.} To form; fashion; set 
an example to. 
Liv'd in court, . . . 
A sample to the youngest ; to th' more mature, 
A glass that/eated them. Shak., Cymbeliue, i. 1. 
feat 2 (fet), a. [< ME. fete (rare), shortenedfrom 
the common form fetis, fetys (rarely fetous, 
whence later spelling featous, q. v.), neat, pret- 
ty, < OF. faictis, faitis, faitisse, faitice, fetis = 
Pr. fetis, well-made, neat, pretty, < L.facticius, 
factititis, made by art, artificial: see factitious 
and fetish, both ult. from the same source.] 1 . 
Neat; skilful; ingenious; deft; clever. 
Se, so she goth on patens faire and/(e. 
Court of Lone, 1. 1087. 
Lightly the elves SAC feat and free, 
They dance all under the greenwood tree ! 
Sir Oluf and the Elf-King's Daughter (Child's Ballads, 
[I. 299). 
And look how well my garments sit upon me ; 
Much f eater than before. Shak., Tempest, ii. 1. 
She speaks feat English. 
Fletcher and Shirley, Night- Walker, iii. 6. 
2. Large: as, a pretty feat parcel (a rather 
large quantity). [Prov. Eng.] 
feat 2 (fet), v. t. [</ea< 2 , a.] To make neat. 
feat-bodiedt (fet'bod*id), a. Having a feat or 
trim body. 
Nay, Sue has ahazel eye ; I know Sue well ; and by your 
leave, not so trim a body neither ; this is a feat bodied 
thing I tell you. Beau, and Fl., Coxcomb, iii. 1. 
feateoust, a. [Ct.featous,fetuous, later forms of 
ME. fetous, fetis : see feat 2 , a.] Same as fea- 
totts. 
feateouslyt, adv. Same aafeatousty. 
feather (feTH'er), n. [Earlymod. E. alsofether; 
< ME. fether, sometimes feder, < AS. f ether, a 
feather, a pen, in pi. often wings (d.eriv.fithere, a 
wing), = OS.fethera = D. veder = OHG. fedara, 
MHG. vedere, veder, Gr. feder, a feather, a pen, = 
Icel.fjodhr = Sw. fjdder ODan. feder, fejr, fice- 
thatr, feyre, Dan. fjeder,fjer (= Goth.*fithra, not 
recorded), feather, = Gr. impov (for *neTep6v), a 
feather, a wing (cf. vr(pv^, a wing, miKav (for 
*ffmXov), feather, down), = L. penna, Oli.pesna 
(for "petna, with different suffix -a), a feather, 
a pen (whence E. pen 2 ), = OBulg. Bulg. Slov. 
Serv. pero = Bohem. pero = Pol. pioro, feather 
(OBulg. pfrati, prati, f|y), = Skt. pattra, a fea- 
ther, wing, leaf, patatra, a wing, cf . patara, a., 
flying, < v fat. fly, descend, fall, = Gr. irire- 
avai, fly, redupl. vmTetv, fall, = L. petere, fall 
upon, make for, seek (whence E. petition, ap- 
petence, compete, etc.).] 1. One of the epider- 
mal appendages which together constitute the 
plumage, the peculiar covering of birds ; also, 
collectively, the plumage. Feathers are extremely 
modified scales. The nearest approach to them in ani- 
mals other than birds is probably the quills of the porcu- 
pine. Feathers are epidermal, non-vascular, and non- 
nervous appendages, consisting of a horny and pithy sub- 
stance, and subject to periodical molt. They grow some- 
feather 
what like hairs, in a little pit or ponch formed by an in- 
version of the dermal layer of the integument, in a closed 
follicle, upon a peculiarly inoMed papilla, \vhich causes 
the feather to assume its special shape. They are seldom 
implanted uniformly over the surface, but grow in special 
tracts or areas separated by naked spaces. (See pteryla, 
iiplfriinii.) All of a bird's feathers collectively considered 
constitute the plvtnaijc or ptilusis. (See cut under birdl.) 
A perfect feather consists of a main stem, shaft, or scape ; 
a supplementary stem, aftershaft, or hyporachis ; and 
vanes, webs, or vexilla : these together making the stan- 
dard. The scape is divided Into two parts : one, nearest 
the body of the bird, is the barrel, quill, or calamus, a 
hard, horny, hollow, semi-transparent tube with one end 
inserted in the skin ; it bears no webs, anil passes insensi- 
bly at a point marked by a little pit (wHAwfatt) into the 
shaft proper or rachis. This is squarish in section, ta- 
pers to a tine point, is highly elastic, opaque, and solidly 
filled with dry pith ; it bears the vexilla. The aftershaft 
is usually like a miniature of the main feather, springing 
from the stem of the latter at the junction of the calamus 
and rachis. (See aftershaft.) With its vanes it is called 
the hypoptilum. Sometimes it is as large as the main 
feather. There are two vanes, on opposite sides of the 
rachis. Each vane consists of a series of mutually ap- 
pressed, thin, flat, linear or lancelinear plates, the barbs, 
set off obliquely from the rachis by their basal ends at 
a varying open angle. (See cut under barbl.) To cause 
these plates to cohere with one another, and make a web- 
bing of the vane, each barb bears secondary vanes ; these 
are barbules, and bear to the barbs the same relation that 
the barbs bear to the rachis. Barbules are also fringed, 
as if frayed out, along their lower edges ; each such fringe 
makes a tertiary vane. When these vanes are simple, they 
are termed barbicels ; when hooked, hooklets or hamuli. 
(See cut under barbule.) From such perfect structure 
feathers may be reduced in various ways, even to lacking 
everything but the shaft ; when this is very thick, feathers 
become much like scales, as in the penguin ; when it is 
fine, they resemble hairs or bristles. In general, three 
types of feather-structure are recognized : (1) The perfect- 
ly feathery, plumow or pennaceous, structure. The goose- 
quill used as a pen is a good example (though it lacks an 
aftershaft). Most contour-feathers are pennaceous. (2) 
The downy or plumulaceous, such as makes up the un- 
der-plumage or down. (3) The filoplumaceous, which 
approaches a bristle or hair. (See cut under JUaplume.) 
But there is no strict line of demarcation, and in fact most 
feathers are pennaceous with plumulaceous bases of the 
webs. Feathers are also classified as (1) pennce, plumce, 
or contour-feathers; (2) plumulee, or down-feathers; (3) 
semiplumce, or half-feathers ; (4) Jilopluntce, or thread- 
feathers ; and (5) pulvipluwce, dust- feathers, or powder- 
down. (See phrases below.) The acquisition of feathers 
is called endysis ; their loss, ecdysis. Birds which ac- 
quire feathers in the egg are Pnrcoces or Ptilopades; 
those which are hatched naked are Altrices, fsilopcedes, or 
Gymnopcedes. Feathers are of extremely rapid growth. 
They are of many shapes, often remarkable, and of every 
possible color. The color is usually due to actual pig- 
mentation, but in many cases to iridescence. The optical 
effect of iridescence is due to the texture of the webs. 
Among all epidermal structures, feathers probably com- 
bine in the highest degree the qualities of lightness, 
strength, and elasticity. They are also very warm, and in 
many cases water-proof. 
He hatheaCrestof .Fedresupon hisHed more gret than 
the Poocok hathe. Mandemlle, Travels, p. 48. 
All byrdes doe loue by kynde, that are lyke of plume and 
feather, 
Good and bad, ye wyld and tame, all kyndes doe draw to- 
gyther. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 89. 
With the feathers of these wings the muses made them- 
selves crowns, so that from this time the muses wore wings 
on their heads. Bacon, Moral Fables, vi. 
2. Something in the form of a feather, or re- 
sembling nearly or remotely the standard of a 
feather ; something made of feathers. 
The bents 
And coarser grass . . . now shine 
Conspicuous, and in bright apparel clad, 
And, fledg'd with icy feathers, nod superb. 
Cou'per, Task, v. 26. 
Specifically (a) A plume. (i>) In founding, a thin rib cast 
on iron framing to strengthen it and resist bending or frac- 
ture. (c)A8liplnsertedlongitudinallyintoa8haft orarbor, 
and projecting so as to fit a groove in the eye of a wheel. 
(d) One of two pieces of metal placed 
in ahole in a stone which is to be split, 
a wedge-shaped key or plug being 
driven between them for this purpose. 
(e) In joinery, a projection on the edge 
of a board which fits into a channel 
on the edge of another board, in the 
operation of joining boards by groov- 
ing and feathering, or grooving and 
tonguing, as it is more commonly 
called. (/) On a horse, a sort of nat- 
ural frizzling of the hair, which in 
some places rises above the smooth 
coat, and makes a figure resembling the tip of an ear of 
wheat, fer) A foamy spray of water thrown up and back- 
ward on each side of the cutwater of a swiftly moving ves- 
sel, or from the edge of an oar when turned horizontally. 
See feather-spray, (h) The fringe of hah- on the back of the 
legs, on the neck, or on the ears of some breeds of dogs, as 
setters. Also feathering, (i) In precious stones, an Irreg- 
ular flaw. See the extract. 
In natural rubies the cavities are always angular or 
crystalline in outline, and are usually filled with some 
liquid, or, if they form part of a feather, as it is called by 
the jewelers, they are often arranged with the lines of 
growth. Sci. Amer., N. S., LVIII. 
3. The feathered end or string-end of an arrow. 
4. Kind; nature; species: from the prover- 
bial phrase "birds of a feather" that is, of 
the same species. 
Feather, def. a 
