Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Flavor or piquancy.
  • noun Interest or excitement.
  • noun The outermost part of the rind of an orange, lemon, or other citrus fruit, used as flavoring.
  • noun Spirited enjoyment; gusto.
  • transitive verb To remove small pieces from (a rind from a citrus fruit) for use as a flavoring in cooking.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To add a zest or relish to; make piquant, literally or figuratively.
  • To cut, as the peel of an orange or a lemon from top to bottom into thin slips, or to squeeze, as orange-peel, over the surface of anything.
  • noun The dry woody membrane covering or forming the partitions of a walnut or other nut or fruit, as an orange or a lemon.
  • noun A piece of the outer rind of an orange or lemon used as a flavoring or for preserving; also, oil squeezed from such a rind to flavor liquor, etc.
  • noun Relish imparted or afforded by anything; piquant nature or quality; agreeableness; charm; piquancy.
  • noun Keen relish or enjoyment of anything; stimulated taste or interest; hearty satisfaction; gusto.

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

  • transitive verb To cut into thin slips, as the peel of an orange, lemon, etc.; to squeeze, as peel, over the surface of anything.
  • transitive verb To give a relish or flavor to; to heighten the taste or relish of.
  • noun A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc.
  • noun Hence, something that gives or enhances a pleasant taste, or the taste itself; an appetizer; also, keen enjoyment; relish; gusto.
  • noun obsolete The woody, thick skin inclosing the kernel of a walnut.

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

  • noun Enthusiasm.
  • noun The outer skin of a citrus fruit, used as a flavouring or garnish.
  • verb cooking To scrape the zest from a fruit
  • verb To make more zesty

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb add herbs or spices to
  • noun vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment
  • noun a tart spicy quality

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Obsolete French, orange or lemon peel.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French zeste, Greek ζέστη (zesti = warmth) The original meaning is 2. Meaning 1. ("enthusiasm") is metaphorical; confer to give a zest to, meaning "to add piquancy to", which can be done with a zest (meaning 2.).

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Comments

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  • I've just rediscovered skipvia's 2x5 list and thought it needed a z word.

    September 5, 2008