repast

Etymology 1

From Middle English repast, repaste (“feast, meal; food, nourishment; the Eucharist; refreshment, rest”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman, Middle French, Old French repast, Middle French, Old French repas (“meal, repast; spiritual nourishment”) (modern French repas), probably from Medieval Latin, Late Latin repastus (“meal”), from repāstus, the perfect passive participle of repāscō (“to feed; to feed one after another”), from Latin re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + pāscō (“to feed, nourish; to pasture (an animal); of an animal: to browse, graze; to maintain, support”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect; to shepherd”)).

noun

1. (countable)
   1. (archaic or literary) A meal.
      I do not run from the King, the King has run me out. Now that Lord Pharaoh has his ear, he says my sense of humor is in doubt. 'Tis true, tonight I ate my last of the royal repast. 2010 September, Pseudonymous Bosch [pseudonym; Raphael Simon], “The Royal Kennels”, in This Isn’t What It Looks Like (The Secret Series; 4), New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, page 127
   2. (obsolete) A period of refreshment or rest.
2. (uncountable)
   1. (archaic) Food or drink that may be consumed as a meal.
   2. (archaic, figurative) Something that is intellectually or spiritually nourishing.
   3. (obsolete) The consumption of food; also, refreshment obtained from eating; (generally) refreshment; rest.

Etymology 2

Partly: * from Middle English repasten (“(reflexive) to refresh (oneself) with food”) [and other forms], either from repast, repaste (“feast, meal; food, nourishment; the Eucharist; refreshment, rest”) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive forms of verbs); or from Late Latin repāstus, the perfect passive participle of repāscō (“to feed; to feed one after another”) (see further at etymology 1); and * from repast (noun).

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. (archaic) To supply (an animal or person) with food; to feed.
   2. (archaic, figurative) To provide (a person) with intellectual or spiritual nourishment; to enlighten, to feed.
   3. (also reflexive, obsolete) To refresh (oneself or someone) through eating and drinking.
2. (intransitive, obsolete, also figurative) Usually followed by on or upon: to take food and drink; to feast, to feed.
   [O]n arrival of the dinner-hour, repasteth on domestic fare, (making especial mention of certain fishes, and concluding with cheese,) […] 1842, “In Praise of Porter”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, volume XII, London: Richard Bentley,[…], →OCLC, fytte the fourth, marginal note, page 346