tastable

[Eng. tast (e); -able.] Capable of being tasted; savory, relishing. "Their distilled oils are fluid, volatile, and tastable ."Boyle. tāste, *taaste, *tast, v . t . & i. [O. Fr. taster =to taste or a ay, to handle, to feel, to touch; French tâter; Ital. tastare = to taste, to feel, to grope, to try, to probe. From a hypothetical Low Latin taxito , a frequent. from Latin taxo = to feel, to handle, from tact us , pa. par. of tango = to touch; Dut. & Ger. tasten to touch, feel.] IMG:content-0837.png:[blocks in formation] "And he now began To taste the bow, the sharp shaft took, tugged hard." Chapman: Homer's Ody ey, xxi. *3. To become acquainted with by actual trial or experience; to experience, to undergo. "Ther ben sum me of hem that stonden heere, whiche schulen not taste deeth, till the i se mannes sone comynge in his kyngdom."- Wycliffe : Matt. xvi. *4. To understand; to become acquainted with. "Acquaint thyself with God, if thou wouldst taste His works." Cowper: Task , v. 779. 5. To participate in; to partake of. (Usually with an implied sense of pleasure or enjoyment.) "Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known." Cowper : Task , i. 653. 6. To try by the touch of the tongue; to perceive the relish or flavor of by taking a small quantity into the mouth. IMG:content-0838.png:[blocks in formation] B. Intransitive: taste 1. To try food or drink by the mouth; to eat or drink a little by way of trial, so as to perceive the flavor; to try or test the flavor of food or drink. 2. To eat. "Of this tree we may not taste or touch." Milton: P. L., ix. 651. *3. To have experience, perception, or enjoyment; to partake. "Bound in thine adamantine chain, The proud are taught to taste of pain." Gray: Hymn to Adversity. *4. To enjoy sparingly. (Followed by of .) 5. To have a smack or flavor; to have a particular quality, flavor, relish, or savor when applied to the tongue, palate, or other organ of taste; to smack. Used absolutely before an adjective; as, It tastes bitter, sweet, .; followed by of before an object.) "If your butter tastes of bra , it is your master's fault, who will not allow a silver saucepan."-Swift: Instruct.to Servants . IMG:content-0839.png:[blocks in formation] 2. That sense by which we perceive the characteristic or distinctive relish or savor of anything when brought into contact with special organs situated in the mouth. [II.] "The organ of taste is the tongue and palate."- Locke : Nat. Philos., ch. xi. 3. A particular nervous sensation excited by cer tain bodies, which are called sapid, when brought into contact with the tongue, palate, ., and moistened with saliva; flavor, savor. "It begins to boile like newe wine, & to be sower and sharp of taste ." -Hackluyt: Voyages, i. 97. 4. Power of appreciating or distinguishing between the flavor of different substances. "For thou of love hast lost thy taste I ge e, As sicke man hath of sweet and bittern e e." Chaucer: A emblie of Fowles. 5. Intellectual relish or discernment; apprecia tion, liking and inclination. (Formerly followed by of , now by for ; as, a taste for music, a taste for chemistry, .) 6. Nice perception, or the power of perceiving and relishing excellence in human performances; the power of appreciating the finer qualities of art, as exhibited by the practical artist, or felt by the amateur or connoi eur; the faculty of discerning beauty, order, congruity, proportion, symmetry, or whatever constitutes excellence, particularly in the fine arts or literature; that faculty of the mind by which we both perceive and enjoy whatever is beautiful or sublime in the works of nature and art. The po e ion of taste insures grace and beauty in IMG:content-0840.png:[blocks in formation] sures that nothing can enter the latter without sending into the former some of the odoriferous particles which may exist in the substance swallowed, and the impre ions received through the organs of taste and smell are so blended together as to become one. No special organ of taste has been discovered in invertebrate animals; and it seems probable that among the vertebrates it rises with the advance of organization, reaching its full development in man. 2. Psychol.: Tastes differ so much among individ. uals, nations, or in different ages and conditions of civilization, that it is utterly impo ible to set up a standard of taste applicable to all men and to all stages in the evolution of society. (1) Taste , in a material sense, is applicable to every object that can be applied to the organ of taste , and to every degree and manner in which the organ can be affected; some things are tastele , other things have a strong taste , and others a mixed taste . The flavor is the predominating taste , and consequently is applied to such objects as may have a different kind or degree of taste ; an apple may not only have the general taste of apple, but also a flavor peculiar to itself; the flavor is commonly said of that which is good, as a fine flavor , a delicious flavor ; but it may designate that which is not always agreeable, as the flavor of fish, which is unpleasant in things that do not admit of such a taste . (2) He who derives particular pleasure from any art may be said to have a taste for it; he who makes very great proficiency in the theory and practice of any art may be said to have a genius for it. One may have a taste without having genius , but it would not be po ible to have genius for a thing without having a taste for it.