banquet
/ˈbæŋkwɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.59 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A large celebratory meal; a feast.
noun
A ceremonial dinner party for many people.
Example Sentences
- "True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant, And in his commendations I am fed; / It is a banquet to me."
- "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."
- "So comes a Reck’ning when the Banquet’s o’er, / The dreadful Reck’ning, and Men ſmile no more."
- "[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, […]"
- "Who goes to dine must take his feast / Or find the banquet mean; / The table is not laid without / Till it is laid within."
- "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."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bankiz Proto-West Germanic *banki Lombardic bankbor. Italian banco Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tosder.? Late Latin -ittus Italian -etto Italian banchettoder. Middle French banquetbor. Middle English banket English banquet 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.