taste > define

noun

• The sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus.
  • usage: "the candy left him with a bad taste"; "the melon had a delicious taste"
  • synonyms: taste sensation, gustatory sensation, taste perception, gustatory perception
• A strong liking.
  • usage: "my own preference is for good literature"; "the Irish have a penchant for blarney"
  • synonyms: preference, penchant, predilection
• Delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values. )
  • usage: "arrogance and lack of taste contributed to his rapid success"; "to ask at that particular time was the ultimate in bad taste"
  • synonyms: appreciation, discernment, perceptiveness
• A brief experience of something.
  • usage: "he got a taste of life on the wild side"; "she enjoyed her brief taste of independence"
• A small amount eaten or drunk.
  • usage: "take a taste-you'll like it"
  • synonyms: mouthful
• The faculty of distinguishing sweet, sour, bitter, and salty properties in the mouth.
  • usage: "his cold deprived him of his sense of taste"
  • synonyms: gustation, sense of taste, gustatory modality
• A kind of sensing; distinguishing substances by means of the taste buds.
  • usage: "a wine tasting"
  • synonyms: tasting

verb

• Have flavor; taste of something.
  • synonyms: savor, savour
• Perceive by the sense of taste.
  • usage: "Can you taste the garlic"
• Take a sample of.
  • usage: "Try these new crackers"; "Sample the regional dishes"
  • synonyms: sample, try, try out
• Have a distinctive or characteristic taste.
  • usage: "This tastes of nutmeg"
  • synonyms: smack
• Distinguish flavors.
  • usage: "We tasted wines last night"
• Experience briefly.
  • usage: "The ex-slave tasted freedom shortly before she died"

• (v.t.) To become acquainted with by actual trial; to essay; to experience; to undergo.
• (v.i.) To take sparingly.
• (n.) Essay; trial; experience; experiment.
• (n.) A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon.
• (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.
• (n.) The act of tasting; gustation.
• (n.) A small portion given as a specimen; a little piece tastted of eaten; a bit.
• (v.i.) To have perception, experience or enjoyment; to partake; as, to taste of nature's bounty.
• (n.) 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.
• (v.t.) To try by eating a little; to eat a small quantity of.
• (n.) 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.
• (v.i.) 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.
• (n.) 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.
• (v.t.) 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.
• (v.t.) To try by the touch; to handle; as, to taste a bow.
• (n.) Intellectual relish; liking; fondness; -- formerly with of, now with for; as, he had no taste for study.
• (n.) 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.
• (v.t.) To partake of; to participate in; -- usually with an implied sense of relish or pleasure.