banquet
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: băngˈkwĭt
ipa: /ˈbæŋkwɪt/
ipa: /ˈbæŋkɪt/
Forms: form: banquets
form: bankette
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant,
And in his commendations I am fed; / It is a banquet to me.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
text: 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.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 5:4:
text: So comes a Reck’ning when the Banquet’s o’er, / The dreadful Reck’ning, and Men ſmile no more.
ref: [1715], [John] Gay, The What D’Ye Call It: A Tragi-comi-pastoral Farce, London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, Act II, scene ix, page 40:
text: [T]he hazels rose / Tall and erect, with milk-white clusters hung, / A virgin scene! — A little while I stood, / Breathing with such suppression of the heart / As joy delights in; and, with wise restraint / Voluptuous, fearless of a rival, eyed / The banquet, […]
ref: 1798, [William Wordsworth], “Nutting”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], →OCLC:
text: Who goes to dine must take his feast / Or find the banquet mean; / The table is not laid without / Till it is laid within.
ref: c. 1870, Emily Dickinson, “(please specify the chapter or poem)”, in M[abel] L[oomis] Todd and M[illicent] T[odd] Bingham, editors, Bolts of Melody, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, published 1945, page 229:
text: And the sun, even as you and I and all there is, sits in equal honour at the banquet of the Prince whose door is always open and whose board is always spread.
ref: 1933, Kahlil Gibran, The Garden of the Prophet:
text: The thrill of discovery quickly wore off. TV crews and reporters were soon scurrying frantically to satisfy the medium’s insatiable appetite for novelty, sometimes achieving massive inanity instead. During coverage of the first great banquet, correspondents—who had not been given menus—variously described those little orange balls decorating the table’s center as pomegranates, oranges or JellO. (They were actually North China tangerines.)
ref: 1972 March 6, “China Coverage: Sweet and Sour”, in Time:
synonyms: reception
glosses: A large celebratory meal; a feast.
glosses: A ceremonial dinner party for many people.
examples: text: Wee'll dine in the great roome, but let the muſick / And banquet be prepar'd here.
ref: c. 1624–1625 (date written), Philip Massinger, The Vnnaturall Combat. A Tragedie. […], London: […] E[dward] G[riffin] for Iohn Waterson, […], published 1639, →OCLC, Act III, scene i:
text: 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.
ref: 1874, Saturday Review: Politics, Literature, Science and Art:
glosses: A dessert; a course of sweetmeats.
Derived terms: after-banquet
banquet burger
banqueteer
banqueteering
banquetlike
banquet roll
banquet trolleyen