taste

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
taste/teɪst/

▶noun

• 1 the sensation of flavour perceived in the mouth on contact with a substance.

  ■ the faculty of perceiving this.

• 2 a small portion of food or drink taken as a sample.

• 3 a brief experience of something.

• 4 a person's liking for something.

• 5 the ability to discern what is of good quality or of a high aesthetic standard.

  ■ conformity to a specified degree with generally held views on what is appropriate or offensive: a joke in bad taste.

▶verb

• 1 perceive or experience the flavour of.

  ■ have a specified flavour.

  ■ sample or test the flavour of.

  ■ eat or drink a small portion of.

• 2 have experience of.

– phrases
to taste according to personal liking.

– derivatives
tasting noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. tast (n.), taster (v.) ‘touch, try, taste’, perh. based on a blend of L. tangere ‘to touch’ and gustare ‘to taste’.