Syn. — Savor; relish; flavor; sensibility; gout. — Taste, Sensibility,
Judgment. Some consider taste as a mere sensibility, and others as a
simple exercise of judgment; but a union of both is requisite to the
existence of anything which deserves the name. An original sense of the
beautiful is just as necessary to æsthetic judgments, as a sense of
right and wrong to the formation of any just conclusions on moral
subjects. But this "sense of the beautiful" is not an arbitrary
principle. It is under the guidance of reason; it grows in delicacy and
correctness with the progress of the individual and of society at
large; it has its laws, which are seated in the nature of man; and it
is in the development of these laws that we find the true "standard of
taste."
What, then, is taste, but those internal powers, Active and strong, and
feelingly alive To each fine impulse? a discerning sense Of decent and
sublime, with quick disgust From things deformed, or disarranged, or
gross In species? This, nor gems, nor stores of gold, Nor purple state,
nor culture, can bestow, But God alone, when first his active hand
Imprints the secret bias of the soul.
Akenside.
Taste of buds, or Taste of goblets (Anat.), the flask-shaped end organs
of taste in the epithelium of the tongue. They are made up of modified
epithelial cells arranged somewhat like leaves in a bud.
Taste"ful (?), a. 1. Having a high relish; savory. "Tasteful herbs."
Pope.
2. Having or exhibiting good taste; in accordance with good taste;
tasty; as, a tasteful drapery.
— Taste"ful*ly, adv. — Taste"ful*ness, n.
Taste"less, a. 1. Having no taste; insipid; flat; as, tasteless fruit.
2. Destitute of the sense of taste; or of good taste; as, a tasteless
age. Orrery.
3. Not in accordance with good taste; as, a tasteless arrangement of
drapery.
— Taste"less*ly, adv. — Taste"less*ness, n.
Tast"er (?), n. 1. One who tastes; especially, one who first tastes
food or drink to ascertain its quality.
Thy tutor be thy taster, ere thou eat.
Dryden.
2. That in which, or by which, anything is tasted, as, a dram cup, a
cheese taster, or the like.
3. (Zoöl.) One of a peculiar kind of zooids situated on the polyp-stem
of certain Siphonophora. They somewhat resemble the feeding zooids, but
are destitute of mouths. See Siphonophora.
Tast"i*ly (?), adv. In a tasty manner.
Tast"ing, n. The act of perceiving or tasting by the organs of taste;
the faculty or sense by which we perceive or distinguish savors.
||Tas"to (?), n. [It.] (Mus.) A key or thing touched to produce a tone.
||
||Tasto solo, single touch; — in old music, a direction denoting that
||the notes in the bass over or under which it is written should be
||performed alone, or with no other chords than unisons and octaves.
||
Tast"y (?), a. [Compar. Tastier (?); superl. Tastiest.] 1. Having a
good taste; — applied to persons; as, a tasty woman. See Taste, n., 5.
2. Being in conformity to the principles of good taste; elegant; as,
tasty furniture; a tasty dress.
Tat (?), n. [Hind. tt.] Gunny cloth made from the fiber of the
Corchorus olitorius, or jute. [India]