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taste |
6 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Taste \Taste\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Tasted}; p. pr & vb n. {Tasting}.] [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.] 1. To try by the touch; to handle; as to taste a bow. [Obs.] --Chapman. Taste it well and stone thou shalt it find --Chaucer. 2. 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. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine. --John ii 9. When Commodus had once tasted human blood, he became incapable of pity or remorse. --Gibbon. 3. To try by eating a little; to eat a small quantity of I tasted a little of this honey. --1 Sam. xiv. 29. 4. To become acquainted with by actual trial; to essay; to experience; to undergo. He . . . should taste death for every man. --Heb. ii 9. 5. To partake of to participate in -- usually with an implied sense of relish or pleasure. Thou . . . wilt taste No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary. --Milton. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Taste \Taste\, v. i. 1. 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. 2. 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. Yea, every idle, nice, and wanton reason Shall to the king taste of this action --Shak. 3. To take sparingly. For age but tastes of pleasures, youth devours. --Dryden. 4. To have perception, experience, or enjoyment; to partake; as to taste of nature's bounty. --Waller. The valiant never taste of death but once. --Shak. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Taste \Taste\, n. 1. The act of tasting; gustation. 2. 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. 3. (Physiol.) 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. Note: Taste depends mainly on the contact of soluble matter with the terminal organs (connected with branches of the glossopharyngeal and other nerves) in the papill[ae] 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. 4. Intellectual relish; liking; fondness; -- formerly with of now with for as he had no taste for study. I have no taste Of popular applause. --Dryden. 5. 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. 6. 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. 7. Essay; trial; experience; experiment. --Shak. 8. A small portion given as a specimen; a little piece tastted of eaten; a bit. --Bacon. 9. A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon. Syn: Savor; relish; flavor; sensibility; gout. Usage: {Taste}, {Sensibility}, {Judgment}. Some consider taste as a mere sensibility, and others as a simple exercise of judgment; but a union of both is requisite to the existence of anything which deserves the name An original sense of the beautiful is just as necessary to [ae]sthetic judgments, as a sense of right and wrong to the formation of any just conclusions or moral subjects. But this ``sense of the beautiful'' is not an arbitrary principle. It is under the guidance of reason; it grows in delicacy and correctness with the progress of the individual and of society at large it has its laws, which are seated in the nature of man; and it is in the development of these laws that we find the true ``standard of taste.'' 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. --Akenside. {Taste of buds}, or {Taste of 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. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: taste n 1: the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus; "the candy left him with a bad taste"; "the melon had a delicious taste" [syn: {taste sensation}, {gustatory sensation}, {taste perception}, {gustatory perception}] 2: a strong liking; "my own preference is for good literature"; "the Irish have a penchant for blarney"; "martinis are an acquired taste" [syn: {preference}, {penchant}, {predilection}] 3: delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values); "arrogance and lack of taste contributed to his rapid success"; "to ask at that particular time was the ultimate in bad taste" [syn: {appreciation}, {discernment}, {perceptiveness}] 4: a brief experience of something "he got a taste of life on the wild side"; "she enjoyed her brief taste of independence" 5: a small amount eaten or drunk; "take a taste--you'll like it" [syn: {mouthful}] 6: the faculty of taste; "his cold deprived him of his sense of taste" [syn: {gustation}, {sense of taste}, {gustatory modality}] 7: distinguishing a taste by means of the taste buds; "he loved the smell and taste of fresh bread"; "a wine tasting" [syn: {tasting}] v 1: have flavor; taste of something [syn: {savor}, {savour}] 2: perceive by the sense of taste; "Can you taste the garlic?" 3: take a sample of "Try these new crackers"; "Sample the regional dishes" [syn: {sample}, {try}, {try out}] 4: have a distinctive or characteristic taste; "This tastes of nutmeg" [syn: {smack}] 5: distinguish flavors; "We tasted wines last night" From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: taste [primarily MIT] n. 1. The quality in a program that tends to be inversely proportional to the number of features, hacks, and kluges programmed into it Also `tasty', `tasteful', `tastefulness'. "This feature comes in N tasty flavors." Although `tasty' and `flavorful' are essentially synonyms, `taste' and {flavor} are not Taste refers to sound judgment on the part of the creator; a program or feature can _exhibit_ taste but cannot _have_ taste. On the other hand, a feature can have {flavor}. Also {flavor} has the additional meaning of `kind' or `variety' not shared by `taste'. The marked sense of {flavor} is more popular than `taste', though both are widely used See also {elegant}. 2. Alt. sp of {tayste}. From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: taste 1. (primarily MIT) The quality of a program that tends to be inversely proportional to the number of features, hacks, and {kluge}s it contains. Taste refers to sound judgment on the part of the creator. See also {elegant}, {flavour}. 2. Alternative spelling of "{tayste}". [{Jargon File}]
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