relish
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹɛl.ɪʃ/
rhymes: -ɛlɪʃ
Forms: form: relishes
form: relishing
form: relished
form: relished
form: rellish
Etymology: Alteration of reles (“scent, taste, aftertaste”), from Old French relais, reles (“something remaining, that which is left behind”), from relaisser (“to leave behind”).
Senses: glosses: To taste or eat with pleasure, to like the flavor of
examples: text: He relishes their time together.
text: I don't relish the idea of going out tonight.
text: Now Vlysses, I begin to relliſh thy aduice, / And I wil giue a taste of it forthwith / To Agamemnon, go we to him ſtraight:
ref: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], column 2:
text: He knows how to prize his advantages, and to relish the honours which he enjoys.
ref: 1706, Francis Atterbury, A sermon preached at the Guild-Hall Chapel, September 28, 1706:
text: “Nurses are not relishing this,” she said. “We are acting with a very heavy heart. It has been a difficult decision taken by hundreds of thousands who begin to remove their labour from tomorrow in a bid to be heard, recognised and valued. […]
ref: 2022 December 15, Pat Cullen, quotee, “Tens of thousands of UK nurses go on strike in first such industrial action in NHS history”, in The Guardian:
text: Few political careers start when people are in their 70s, but Hendy is actually relishing it, although he is incensed sometimes by the pointlessness of the posturing by the opposition, which keeps him up late. "The bit I don't like is getting home at 0100 or 0200 in the morning because the opposition have been fruitlessly arguing for a long time."
ref: 2025 October 1, Christian Wolmar, “Rail Minister at the heart of rail reform”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 35:
glosses: To take great pleasure in.
examples: text: honourable enterprises are accompanied with dangers and damages, as experience evinceth; they will make the rest of thy life relish the better.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 3:
text: Had I been the finder-out of this secret, it would not have relish'd among my other discredits.
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
text: A theory, which, how much soever it may relish of wit and invention, hath no foundation in nature.
ref: 1695, John Woodward, An essay toward a natural history of the earth:
glosses: To taste; to have a specified taste or flavour.
examples: text: By this the boiling Kettle had prepar'd, / And to the Table ſent, the ſmoaking Lard; / On which the eager Appetite they dine, / A ſav'ry Bit, that ſerv'd to relliſh Wine: [...]
ref: 1717, John Dryden, “Book VIII. [The Story of Baucis and Philemon.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, pages 285–286:
glosses: To give a taste to; to cause to taste nice, to make appetizing.
glosses: To give pleasure.
Synonyms: sense: take pleasure in
word: appreciate
word: delight in
word: enjoy
word: like
word: revel in
Derived terms: disrelish
relishable
relisher