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repast

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A meal or feast—used both literally in hospitality scenes and symbolically in sacramental or communal contexts.

Detailed Definition
“Repast” elevates “meal” to formal register, evoking hospitality or ritual. In poetry, it frames communal gathering—funeral repast, lover’s repast. The term’s softness suits lyrical description. Poets use it to explore nourishment’s social and symbolic roles, where repasts mark transition, alliance, or memory in narrative and descriptive traditions.
Example
Example in poetry:
“They shared a humble repast beneath the stars,” in a pastoral scene; In Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene”: “A dainty repast was there prepared”; “The ghost accepted no repast, only memory,” a line from an elegy; “After battle, the victors took their grim repast”; “Her repast was bread and sorrow”; The feast was a repast of reconciliation.
Additional Notes
“Repast” elevates “meal” to ceremonial or literary dignity; in pastoral, epic, or banquet scenes, it frames eating as communal ritual, often contrasting abundance with famine or hospitality with betrayal in narrative tension.
Also Known As
meal feast banquet
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