TASTE


Meaning of TASTE in English

/ teɪst; NAmE / noun , verb

■ noun

FLAVOUR

1.

[ C , U ] the particular quality that different foods and drinks have that allows you to recognize them when you put them in your mouth :

a salty / bitter / sweet, etc. taste

I don't like the taste of olives.

This dish has an unusual combination of tastes and textures.

The soup has very little taste.

SENSE

2.

[ U ] the sense you have that allows you to recognize different foods and drinks when you put them in your mouth :

I've lost my sense of taste.

SMALL QUANTITY

3.

[ C , usually sing. ] a small quantity of food or drink that you try in order to see what it is like :

Just have a taste of this cheese.

SHORT EXPERIENCE

4.

[ sing. ] a short experience of sth :

This was my first taste of live theatre.

Although we didn't know it, this incident was a taste of things to come .

ABILITY TO CHOOSE WELL

5.

[ U ] a person's ability to choose things that people recognize as being of good quality or appropriate :

He has very good taste in music.

They've got more money than taste.

The room was furnished with taste.

WHAT YOU LIKE

6.

[ C , U ] taste (for / in sth) what a person likes or prefers :

That trip gave me a taste for foreign travel.

She has very expensive tastes in clothes.

The colour and style is a matter of personal taste .

Modern art is not to everyone's taste .

There are trips to suit all tastes.

IDIOMS

- be in bad, poor, the worst possible, etc. taste

- be in good, the best possible, etc. taste

- leave a bad / nasty taste in the mouth

- to taste

—more at account verb , acquire , medicine

■ verb

(not used in the progressive tenses)

HAVE FLAVOUR

1.

linking verb taste (of sth) to have a particular flavour :

[ v - adj ]

It tastes sweet.

[ v ]

The ice tasted of mint.

This drink tastes like sherry.

2.

-tasting (in adjectives) having a particular flavour :

foul-tasting medicine

RECOGNIZE FLAVOUR

3.

[ vn ] (often used with can or could ) to be able to recognize flavours in food and drink :

You can taste the garlic in this stew.

TEST FLAVOUR

4.

[ vn ] to test the flavour of sth by eating or drinking a small amount of it

SYN try :

Taste it and see if you think there's enough salt in it.

EAT / DRINK

5.

[ vn ] to eat or drink food or liquid :

I've never tasted anything like it.

HAVE SHORT EXPERIENCE

6.

[ vn ] to have a short experience of sth, especially sth that you want more of :

He had tasted freedom only to lose it again.

••

WORD ORIGIN

Middle English (also in the sense touch ): from Old French tast (noun), taster (verb) touch, try, taste, perhaps based on a blend of Latin tangere to touch and gustare to taste.

Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь для изучающик язык на продвинутом уровне.