zest
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /zɛst/
rhymes: -ɛst
Forms: form: zests
Etymology: Borrowed from French zeste.
Senses: examples: text: The orange zest gives the strong flavor in this dish.
glosses: The outer skin of a citrus fruit, used as a flavouring or garnish.
examples: text: I add zest to the meat by rubbing it with a spice mixture before grilling.
text: He rolled his own cigarettes from a sack of Bull Durham, spilling flakes into his beer, which no doubt gained in zest thereby.
ref: 1959, Peter De Vries, The Tents of Wickedness, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., The Treehouse, Chapter 7, page 92:
text: Bashele’s dishes tasted as good as they had when I was a child. No one could give to the borscht such a sweet-and-sour zest as Bashele.
ref: 1978, Isaac Bashevis Singer, translated by Joseph Singer et al., Shosha, New York: Fawcett Crest, Part One, Chapter Five, 1, p. 99:
glosses: General vibrance of flavour.
examples: text: Auntie Mame had a real zest for life.
text: 1728, Edward Young, Love of Fame, the Universal Passion, Satire II in The Works of the Reverend Edward Young, London: P. Brown, H. Hill & S. Payne, 1765, Volume I, p. 85,
Almighty vanity! to thee they owe
Their zest of pleasure, and their balm of woe.
text: 1807, Thomas Cogan, An Ethical Treatise on the Passions, Bath: Hazard & Binns, Part 1, Disquisition 1, Chapter 1, Section 1 “On the utility of the Passions and Affections,” p. 51,
Liberality of disposition and conduct gives the highest zest and relish to social intercourse.
text: And never did Isabella relieve a suffering fellow-creature, or assist a beloved sister, without blessing the dear, distant one that had made her rich, and kissing her sweet boy with new zest, as the son of his father.
ref: 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 139:
text: Once started, Mrs. Bolton was better than any book, about the lives of the people. She knew them all so intimately, and had such a peculiar, flamey zest in all their affairs, it was wonderful, if just a trifle humiliating to listen to her.
ref: 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 9, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Gutenberg edition, [Florence, Italy]: [ […] Tipografia Giuntina, […]], →OCLC; republished as Lady Chatterley’s Lover (eBook no. 0100181h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, August 2011, archived from the original on 11 Nov 2020:
text: The singers, male and female, wore blue jeans and long hair and had more zest than talent.
ref: 1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York: Dell, published 1963, Book Two, Chapter 2, p. 221:
text: 59 sneak in some red Smuggle a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a corkscrew into a long matinee. Red wine is rich in life-extending antioxidants, and the caper will add zest even to a bad movie.
ref: 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:
glosses: Enthusiasm; keen enjoyment; relish; gusto.
examples: text: The green zest of walnuts was used by the women to shine their teeth and it also gave a beautiful rust colour to their lips.
ref: 2006, N. J. Nusha, On the Edge (Short Stories), Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, page 85:
glosses: The woody, thick skin enclosing the kernel of a walnut.
glosses: State of being effeminate or a flamboyant homosexual.
Synonyms: sense: enthusiasm
word: gusto
sense: enthusiasm
word: relish
sense: general vibrance of flavour
word: punch
sense: general vibrance of flavour
word: spice
sense: general vibrance of flavour
word: tang
sense: general vibrance of flavour
word: zing
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from zest (noun)
word: zest fest
sense: Terms derived from zest (noun)
word: zestful
sense: Terms derived from zest (noun)
word: zestfully
sense: Terms derived from zest (noun)
word: zestily
sense: Terms derived from zest (noun)
word: zestiness
sense: Terms derived from zest (noun)
word: zestless
sense: Terms derived from zest (noun)
word: zestlessly
sense: Terms derived from zest (noun)
word: zestlessness
sense: Terms derived from zest (noun)
word: zesty