Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun plural Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Compare acates, and see cater.

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Examples

  • But we must bribe children to wholesome medicine by the offer of cates, and youth to honourable achievement with the promise of pleasure.

    The Abbot 2008

  • His paneled of? ce sports several framed certi? cates distinguishing him for his efforts as an insurance agent, but they aren't helping him now.

    'City of the Sun' 2008

  • Advo-cates for battered women claim it would also make it harder for women to leave abusive or violent relationships -- especially if they feared reprisals for testifying to abuse in court.

    Tightening The Knot 2008

  • The dearest cates are best, and 'tis an ordinary thing to bestow twenty or thirty pounds on a dish, some thousand crowns upon a dinner:

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • Next were victual brought unto her of broth and venison, and good wine and cates and strawberries; and she was not so famished but she might eat and drink with a good will.

    The Water of the Wondrous Isles 2007

  • Liberality in princes is regarded as a mark of beneficence, but when it occurs, that the homely bread of the honest and industrious is often thereby converted into delicious cates for the idle and the prodigal, we soon retract our heedless praises.

    An Enquiry into the Principles of Morals 2006

  • A lovely (introduce to domestic circles) pershan of cates.

    Finnegans Wake 2006

  • Philip, perceiving some of the company uneasy at this discourse, said: Pray spare us, sir, and be not so severe upon us; for we were the first that found fault with that custom when it first began to be countenanced in Rome, and reprehended those who thought Plato fit to entertain us whilst we were making merry, and who would hear his dialogues whilst they were eating cates and scattering perfumes.

    Essays and Miscellanies 2004

  • Lady into hir own poore lodging, where (such cates as they had to feede on) lovingly she set before her: conveying her afterward into her owne bed, and taking such good order, that Ancilla was carried in the night time to Florence, to prevent all further ensuing danger, by reason of her legs breaking.

    The Decameron 2004

  • But though my cates be mean, take them in good part;

    The Comedy of Errors 2004

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  • The gourmet is cursed by the fates

    To crave only rarest of cates.

    Though plain food may nourish

    Yet he needs a flourish

    And only the Lucullan sates.

    November 19, 2016