Taste

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Taste, v. t. [OE. tasten to feel, to taste, OF. taster, F. tater to feel, to try by the touch, to try, to taste, (assumed) LL. taxitare, fr. L. taxare to touch sharply, to estimate. See Tax, v. t.].

•  To try by the touch; to handle; as, to taste a bow.  Chapman.  [1913 Webster]

  "Taste it well and stone thou shalt it find."  [1913 Webster]
•  To try by the touch of the tongue; to perceive the relish or flavor of (anything) by taking a small quantity into a mouth. Also used figuratively.  [1913 Webster]

  "When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine."  [1913 Webster]

  "When Commodus had once tasted human blood, he became incapable of pity or remorse."  [1913 Webster]
•  To try by eating a little; to eat a small quantity of.  [1913 Webster]

  "I tasted a little of this honey."  [1913 Webster]
•  To become acquainted with by actual trial; to essay; to experience; to undergo.  [1913 Webster]

  "He . . . should taste death for every man."  [1913 Webster]
•  To partake of; to participate in; -- usually with an implied sense of relish or pleasure.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thou . . . wilt taste
  No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary."  [1913 Webster]

Taste, v. i. 

•  To try food with the mouth; to eat or drink a little only; to try the flavor of anything; as, to taste of each kind of wine.  [1913 Webster]
•  To have a smack; to excite a particular sensation, by which the specific quality or flavor is distinguished; to have a particular quality or character; as, this water tastes brackish; the milk tastes of garlic.  [1913 Webster]

  "Yea, every idle, nice, and wanton reason
  Shall to the king taste of this action."  [1913 Webster]
•  To take sparingly.  [1913 Webster]

  "For age but tastes of pleasures, youth devours."  [1913 Webster]
•  To have perception, experience, or enjoyment; to partake; as, to taste of nature's bounty.  Waller.  [1913 Webster]

  "The valiant never taste of death but once."  [1913 Webster]

Taste, n. 

•  The act of tasting; gustation.  [1913 Webster]
•  A particular sensation excited by the application of a substance to the tongue; the quality or savor of any substance as perceived by means of the tongue; flavor; as, the taste of an orange or an apple; a bitter taste; an acid taste; a sweet taste.  [1913 Webster]
•  The one of the five senses by which certain properties of bodies (called their taste, savor, flavor) are ascertained by contact with the organs of taste.  [1913 Webster]

  " Taste depends mainly on the contact of soluble matter with the terminal organs (connected with branches of the glossopharyngeal and other nerves) in the papillæ on the surface of the tongue. The base of the tongue is considered most sensitive to bitter substances, the point to sweet and acid substances."  [1913 Webster]
•  Intellectual relish; liking; fondness; -- formerly with of, now with for; as, he had no taste for study.  [1913 Webster]

  "I have no taste
  Of popular applause."  [1913 Webster]
•  The power of perceiving and relishing excellence in human performances; the faculty of discerning beauty, order, congruity, proportion, symmetry, or whatever constitutes excellence, particularly in the fine arts and belles-letters; critical judgment; discernment.  [1913 Webster]
•  Manner, with respect to what is pleasing, refined, or in accordance with good usage; style; as, music composed in good taste; an epitaph in bad taste.  [1913 Webster]
•  Essay; trial; experience; experiment.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  A small portion given as a specimen; a little piece tasted or eaten; a bit.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]
•  A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon.  [1913 Webster]

  "What, then, is taste, but those internal powers,
  Active and strong, and feelingly alive
  To each fine impulse? a discerning sense
  Of decent and sublime, with quick disgust
  From things deformed, or disarranged, or gross
  In species? This, nor gems, nor stores of gold,
  Nor purple state, nor culture, can bestow,
  But God alone, when first his active hand
  Imprints the secret bias of the soul."  [1913 Webster]

Taste buds, or Taste goblets (Anat.), the flask-shaped end organs of taste in the epithelium of the tongue. They are made up of modified epithelial cells arranged somewhat like leaves in a bud.

Syn. -- Savor; relish; flavor; sensibility; gout.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Taste, n. & v.
--n.
1 a the sensation characteristic of a soluble substance caused in the mouth and throat by contact with that substance (disliked the taste of garlic). b the faculty of perceiving this sensation (was bitter to the taste).
2 a small portion of food or drink taken as a sample.
3 a slight experience (a taste of success).
4 (often foll. by for) a liking or predilection (has expensive tastes; is not to my taste).
5 aesthetic discernment in art, literature, conduct, etc., esp. of a specified kind (a person of taste; dresses in poor taste).
--v.
1 tr. sample or test the flavour of (food etc.) by taking it into the mouth.
2 tr. (also absol.) perceive the flavour of (could taste the lemon; cannot taste with a cold).
3 tr. (esp. with neg.) eat or drink a small portion of (had not tasted food for days).
4 tr. have experience of (had never tasted failure).
5 intr. (often foll. by of) have a specified flavour (tastes bitter; tastes of onions).

Idiom

a bad (or bitter etc.) taste colloq. a strong feeling of regret or unease. taste blood see BLOOD. taste bud any of the cells or nerve-endings on the surface of the tongue by which things are tasted. to taste in the amount needed for a pleasing result (add salt and pepper to taste).

Derivative

tasteable adj.

Etymology

ME, = touch, taste, f. OF tast, taster touch, try, taste, ult. perh. f. L tangere touch + gustare taste

THESAURUS

Taste

Atticism, affection, affinity, appetence, appetite, appreciate, appreciation, appreciation of differences, appreciativeness, apprehend, appropriateness, aroma, artistic judgment, assay, attribute, badge, bag, be aware of, be conscious of, be exposed to, be fond of, be partial to, be sensible of, be subjected to, bent, bias, bit, bite, brand, break bread, bring to test, cachet, canine appetite, cast, censoriousness, character, characteristic, chasteness, chastity, choosiness, chosen kind, chromesthesia, clarity, classicalism, classicism, clearness, color hearing, come up against, comeliness, comprehension, configuration, confirm, connoisseurship, conscientiousness, correctness, count calories, critical niceness, criticalness, crush, cultivation, cup of tea, cut, cut and try, dash, decorum, delicacy, delight in, design, desire, diet, differentia, differential, dignity, directness, discernment, discretion, discriminating taste, discriminatingness, discrimination, discriminativeness, disposition, distinction, distinctive feature, drop, drought, druthers, dryness, earmark, ease, eat, elegance, elegancy, emptiness, empty stomach, encounter, endure, enjoy, essay, examine, example, experience, experiment, fall to, fancy, fare, fashion, fastidiousness, favor, feature, feed, feel, feeling, felicitousness, felicity, figure, fine palate, finesse, finish, fittingness, five senses, flavor, flow, flowing periods, fluency, fondness, form, give a try, give a tryout, gleam, go through, good taste, grace, gracefulness, gracility, grain, gust, gusto, hallmark, have, have a go, have knowledge of, hear, hearing, heart, hint, hollow hunger, hunger, hungriness, idea, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, impress, impression, inclination, index, individualism, infatuation, intimation, judgement, judiciousness, keynote, know, labor under, leaning, lick, like, likes, liking, limpidity, lineaments, little bite, little smack, look, love, lucidity, making distinctions, manner, mannerism, mark, marking, meet, meet up with, meet with, meticulousness, mode, mold, morsel, motif, mouthful, naturalness, nature, neatness, niceness of distinction, nicety, nip, odor, palate, partake, partake of, partiality, particular choice, particularity, particularness, pass through, passion, pay, peculiarity, pellucidity, penchant, perceive, perception, perfectionism, personal choice, perspicuity, phonism, photism, piece, pinch, pitch in, plainness, play around with, polish, politeness, politesse, polydipsia, practice upon, preciseness, precisianism, precision, predilection, predisposition, preference, prejudice, prepossession, priggishness, proclivity, property, propriety, prove, prudishness, punctilio, punctiliousness, purism, puritanism, purity, put to trial, quality, quirk, receptor, refined discrimination, refined palate, refinement, relish, research, respond, respond to stimuli, restraint, road-test, run a sample, run up against, sample, sampling, sapidity, sapor, savor, scintilla, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, seal, see, seemliness, selectiveness, selectivity, sense, sense organ, senses, sensibility, sensillum, sensitivity, sensorium, sensory organ, shade, shadow, shake down, shape, sight, simplicity, singularity, sip, sixth sense, smack, smack the lips, smattering, smell, smoothness, soft, soupcon, spark, specialty, specimen, spend, sprinkling, stamp, stand under, stomach, straightforwardness, strictness, style, stylishness, substantiate, subtlety, suffer, suggestion, sup, suspicion, sustain, swallow, swatch, sweet tooth, synesthesia, tact, tactfulness, taint, take, tang, tapeworm, taste of, tastefulness, taster, tendency, terseness, test, thing, thirst, thirstiness, thought, tincture, tinge, token, tolerance, torment of Tantalus, touch, trace, trait, trick, trifle, try, try it on, try out, type, unaffectedness, undergo, understanding, validate, verify, weakness, whiff, wink, zest

ROGET THESAURUS

Taste

Feeling

VB feel, receive an impression, be impressed with, entertain feeling, harbor feeling, cherish feeling, respond, catch the flame, catch the infection, enter the spirit of, bear, suffer, support, sustain, endure, thole, aby, abide, experience, taste, prove, labor under, smart under, bear the brunt of, brave, stand, swell, glow, warm, flush, blush, change color, mantle, turn color, turn pale, turn red, turn black in the face, tingle, thrill, heave, pant, throb, palpitate, go pitapat, tremble, quiver, flutter, twitter, shake, be agitated, be excited, look blue, look black, wince, draw a deep breath, impress.

Taste

N taste, good taste, refined taste, cultivated taste, delicacy, refinement, fine feeling, gust, gusto, tact, finesse, nicety, to prepon, polish, elegance, grace, judgment, discernment, dilettantism, dilettanteism, virtu, fine art, culture, cultivation, aesthetics, man of taste, connoisseur, judge, critic, conoscente, virtuoso, amateur, dilettante, Aristarchus, Corinthian, arbiter elegantiarum, stagirite, euphemist, caviare to the general, in good taste, cute, tasteful, tasty, unaffected, pure, chaste, classical, attic, cultivated, refined, dainty, esthetic, aesthetic, artistic, elegant, euphemistic, to one's taste, to one's mind, after one's fancy, comme il faut, tire a quatre epingles, elegantly, nihil tetigit quod non ornavit, chacun a son gout, oculi pictura tenentur aures cantibus, taste, flavor, gust, gusto, savor, gout, relish, sapor, sapidity, twang, smack, smatch, aftertaste, tang, tasting, degustation, gustation, palate, tongue, tooth, stomach, sapid, saporific, gustable, gustatory, gustful, strong, gamy, palatable, taste, good taste, refined taste, cultivated taste, delicacy, refinement, fine feeling, gust, gusto, tact, finesse, nicety, to prepon, polish, elegance, grace, judgment, discernment, dilettantism, dilettanteism, virtu, fine art, culture, cultivation, aesthetics, man of taste, connoisseur, judge, critic, conoscente, virtuoso, amateur, dilettante, Aristarchus, Corinthian, arbiter elegantiarum, stagirite, euphemist, caviare to the general, in good taste, cute, tasteful, tasty, unaffected, pure, chaste, classical, attic, cultivated, refined, dainty, esthetic, aesthetic, artistic, elegant, euphemistic, to one's taste, to one's mind, after one's fancy, comme il faut, tire a quatre epingles, elegantly, nihil tetigit quod non ornavit, chacun a son gout, oculi pictura tenentur aures cantibus, taste, flavor, gust, gusto, savor, gout, relish, sapor, sapidity, twang, smack, smatch, aftertaste, tang, tasting, degustation, gustation, palate, tongue, tooth, stomach, sapid, saporific, gustable, gustatory, gustful, strong, gamy, palatable.

VB appreciate, judge, criticise, discriminate, taste, savor, smatch, smack, flavor, twang, tickle the palate, smack the lips.

Pulpiness

N pulpiness, pulp, taste, dough, curd, pap, rob, jam, pudding, poultice, grume, mush, oatmeal, baby food, pulpy, pultaceous, grumous, baccate.

Discrimination

N discrimination, distinction, differentiation, diagnosis, diorism, nice perception, perception of difference, appreciation of difference, estimation, nicety, refinement, taste, critique, judgment, tact, discernment, acuteness, penetration, nuances, dope, past performances, discriminating, dioristic, discriminative, distinctive, nice, il y a fagots et fagots, rem acu tetigisti, la critique est aisee et l'art est difficile, miles apart, a distinction without a difference.