to try or test the flavor or quality of (something) by taking some into the mouth: to taste food.
to eat or drink a little of: She barely tasted her dinner.
to eat or drink (often used in negative constructions): He hadn't tasted food for three days.
to perceive or distinguish the flavor of: to taste the wine in a sauce.
to have or get experience, especially a slight experience: these young men who had only begun to taste life.
to perceive in any way.
Archaic. to enjoy or appreciate.
Obsolete.
to examine by touch; feel.
to test or try.
verb (used without object),tast·ed,tast·ing.
to try the flavor or quality of something.
to eat or drink a little (usually followed by of): She tasted of the cake.
to perceive or distinguish the flavor of anything.
to have experience of something, however limited or slight.
to have a particular flavor (often followed by of): The coffee tastes bitter. The bread tastes of mold.
to smack or savor (usually followed by of): The story tastes of treason.
noun
the act of tasting food or drink.
the sense by which the flavor or savor of things is perceived when they are brought into contact with the tongue.
the sensation or quality as perceived by this sense; flavor.
a small quantity tasted; a morsel, bit, or sip.
a relish, liking, or partiality for something: a taste for music.
the sense of what is fitting, harmonious, or beautiful; the perception and enjoyment of what constitutes excellence in the fine arts, literature, fashion, etc.
the sense of what is seemly, polite, tactful, etc., to say or do in a given social situation.
one's personal attitude or reaction toward an aesthetic phenomenon or social situation, regarded as either good or bad.
the ideas of aesthetic excellence or of aesthetically valid forms prevailing in a culture or personal to an individual: a sample of Victorian taste; I consulted only my own taste in decorating this room.
the formal idiom preferred by a certain artist or culture; style; manner: a façade in the Baroque taste.
a slight experience or a sample of something: a taste of adventure.
a feeling or sensation resulting from an experience: a compromise that left a bad taste in her mouth.
Obsolete. test or trial.
Idioms for taste
taste blood. blood (def. 24).
to one's taste, agreeable or pleasing to one: He couldn't find any ties that were completely to his taste.
Origin of taste
First recorded in 1250–1300; (verb) Middle English tasten “to touch, taste,” from Old French taster “to touch, explore by touching” (Middle French: “to touch, taste”); cognate with Italian tastare, Provençal, Old Spanish tastar, of uncertain origin; (noun) Middle English tast “sense of touch, a trying, tasting,” from Old French, derivative of taster
17. Taste,flavor,savor refer to a quality that is perceived when a substance is placed upon the tongue. Taste is the general word: the taste of roast beef.Flavor is a characteristic taste, usually of a pleasing kind, and as of some ingredient put into the food: lemon flavor.Savor, much less common than taste or flavor, implies pleasing scent as well as taste or flavor, and connotes enjoyment in tasting: The sauce has an excellent savor.
historical usage of taste
The English noun taste (Middle English tast ) is derived from the Middle English verb tasten “to taste (food, medicine), perceive a flavor, palpate or feel (a patient), experience or feel something (also referring to sexual feeling), test someone or something, attempt.” Tasten was borrowed from Old French taster “to touch, try,” from an unrecorded Vulgar Latin verb tastāre (or taxtāre or taxitāre ), which is most likely an alteration of a frequentative verb formed from tangere “to touch, tap, taste (food), lay hands on, affect (with emotion), seize, defraud.” (A frequentative verb is one that expresses repetition of an action). Though the meaning “to try or examine by touch; to feel” is now obsolete, the current figurative meaning “to have a slight experience of something” has developed from that literal use. And of course the primary meaning “to try the flavor of something” is merely referring to another one of our five senses that is stimulated by food taken into the mouth.
OTHER WORDS FROM taste
tast·a·ble,taste·a·ble,adjectivepre·taste,noun,verb (used with object),pre·tast·ed,pre·tast·ing.re·taste,verb,re·tast·ed,re·tast·ing.un·tast·a·ble,adjective
How Words For Tastes Became Words For TraitsYou're positively edible! We need only look to our tastebuds to describe people in our lives these days. So how did words like "sweet" and "crunchy" become traits?