Daily Almanac for
Nov 29, 2009
Search White Pages
Search: Infoplease Info search tips
Search: Biographies Bio search tips
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—B

Banquet

used at one time to mean the dessert. Thus, Taylor, in the Pennyless Pilgrim, says: “Our first and second course being threescore dishes at one boord, and after that, always a banquet.” (French, banquet; banc, a bench or table. We use “table” also for a meal or feast, as “the funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage table,” i.e. feast.)

“After supper ... a delicate banquet, with abundance of wine.” —Cogan (1583).

A banquet of brine.
A flood of tears.

“My heart was charged to overflowing, and forced into my eyes a banquet of brine.” —O. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 263.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Banquo
Banns of Marriage
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

More on Banquet from Infoplease:

    • Cite
    • Print
    • Bookmark

Related Content