Banqueted

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A formal meal held to celebrate a special occasion or achievement, attended by guests who enjoy a richly prepared feast and often include speeches or entertainment
2. An elaborate gathering where individuals come together to share a significant meal in honor of a noteworthy event, typically characterized by a variety of dishes and festivities
3. A celebratory event featuring a grand meal served to an assembly of people, marking an important occasion with food, drink, and often accompanying entertainment or speeches

Etymology: Before "banquet" meant a lavish feast, the Italian "banchetto" was a modest thing: a light snack eaten between meals, literally "a small bench." The name came from "banco," bench, which traces back to a Proto-Germanic word for the same piece of furniture. Bench-sized seating and a snack on it seem to have been the original picture, and the grand sense came later. The word reached English through Middle French "banquet" and appeared in Middle English as "banket." The "w" in today's spelling has no etymological basis; it crept in through spelling-pronunciation, when readers began sounding the letters as written. "Banqueted" is simply the past tense of "banquet," so it describes having eaten at such a feast. It is the English verb's ordinary past form, and the feast sense it carries is the late refinement of a snack taken on a bench.

Synonyms: feasted, celebrated