love feast
1
7.2
- noun
- /lʌv fiːst/
:
banquete de amor
- During the annual love feast, families gathered to enjoy food and strengthen their bonds of friendship.
Examples
-
This... this American love feast was too much for a native Filipino.
Fiction book (1991) -
These are blemishes on your love feasts, your agape's whilst they feast with you, fear of feeding themselves.
-
Each was as glowing and brimming with bouquets as the love feast he'd laid out for Beloved Babylonian.
Fiction book (1999) -
The church organized a love feast to celebrate the unity of the congregation and share a meal together.
-
At the love feast, members of the community shared their blessings and expressed gratitude for each other.
Synonyms
639
1.0
A formal meal in the evening where people meet for social or business reasons
162
1.9
A large special meal with many foods for a celebration
114
3.9
A large formal meal for many people to celebrate a special event
75
1.0
An event where people are invited to eat dinner together
25
3.5
A meal where everyone brings a dish to share
A church meal that shows friendship and shared faith among people
How Communal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a communal meal promoting love or fellowship' is directly and transparently composed from 'love' (affection/fellowship) + 'feast' (a large celebratory meal), so a learner who knows both words can infer the basic sense. While it can have a specialised religious usage, the constituent meanings combine predictably and the concept is cross-linguistically familiar, making it accessible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Love feast comes from early Christian meals called 'agape', an old Greek word for 'love', where people shared bread and food to show love and join in a feast. That's why Love feast now means a gathering or meal to promote 'love' and unity.