Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Taste \Taste\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Tasted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Tasting}.] [OE. tasten to feel, to taste, OF. taster, F.
   tater to feel, to try by the touch, to try, to taste,
   (assumed) LL. taxitare, fr. L. taxare to touch sharply, to
   estimate. See {Tax}, v. t.]
   1. To try by the touch; to handle; as, to taste a bow. [Obs.]
      --Chapman.

            Taste it well and stone thou shalt it find.
                                                  --Chaucer.

   2. To try by the touch of the tongue; to perceive the relish
      or flavor of (anything) by taking a small quantity into a
      mouth. Also used figuratively.

            When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water
            that was made wine.                   --John ii. 9.

            When Commodus had once tasted human blood, he became
            incapable of pity or remorse.         --Gibbon.

   3. To try by eating a little; to eat a small quantity of.

            I tasted a little of this honey.      --1 Sam. xiv.
                                                  29.

   4. To become acquainted with by actual trial; to essay; to
      experience; to undergo.

            He . . . should taste death for every man. --Heb.
                                                  ii. 9.

   5. To partake of; to participate in; -- usually with an
      implied sense of relish or pleasure.

            Thou . . . wilt taste No pleasure, though in
            pleasure, solitary.                   --Milton.

Taste \Taste\, v. i.
   1. To try food with the mouth; to eat or drink a little only;
      to try the flavor of anything; as, to taste of each kind
      of wine.

   2. To have a smack; to excite a particular sensation, by
      which the specific quality or flavor is distinguished; to
      have a particular quality or character; as, this water
      tastes brackish; the milk tastes of garlic.

            Yea, every idle, nice, and wanton reason Shall to
            the king taste of this action.        --Shak.

   3. To take sparingly.

            For age but tastes of pleasures, youth devours.
                                                  --Dryden.

   4. To have perception, experience, or enjoyment; to partake;
      as, to taste of nature's bounty. --Waller.

            The valiant never taste of death but once. --Shak.

Taste \Taste\, n.
   1. The act of tasting; gustation.

   2. A particular sensation excited by the application of a
      substance to the tongue; the quality or savor of any
      substance as perceived by means of the tongue; flavor; as,
      the taste of an orange or an apple; a bitter taste; an
      acid taste; a sweet taste.

   3. (Physiol.) The one of the five senses by which certain
      properties of bodies (called their taste, savor, flavor)
      are ascertained by contact with the organs of taste.

   Note: Taste depends mainly on the contact of soluble matter
         with the terminal organs (connected with branches of
         the glossopharyngeal and other nerves) in the
         papill[ae] on the surface of the tongue. The base of
         the tongue is considered most sensitive to bitter
         substances, the point to sweet and acid substances.

   4. Intellectual relish; liking; fondness; -- formerly with
      of, now with for; as, he had no taste for study.

            I have no taste Of popular applause.  --Dryden.

   5. The power of perceiving and relishing excellence in human
      performances; the faculty of discerning beauty, order,
      congruity, proportion, symmetry, or whatever constitutes
      excellence, particularly in the fine arts and
      belles-letters; critical judgment; discernment.

   6. Manner, with respect to what is pleasing, refined, or in
      accordance with good usage; style; as, music composed in
      good taste; an epitaph in bad taste.

   7. Essay; trial; experience; experiment. --Shak.

   8. A small portion given as a specimen; a little piece
      tastted of eaten; a bit. --Bacon.

   9. A kind of narrow and thin silk ribbon.

   Syn: Savor; relish; flavor; sensibility; gout.

   Usage: {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 [ae]sthetic judgments, as a sense of
          right and wrong to the formation of any just
          conclusions or 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.

Source : WordNet®

taste
     n 1: the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and
          throat convey information about the chemical composition
          of a soluble stimulus; "the candy left him with a bad
          taste"; "the melon had a delicious taste" [syn: {taste
          sensation}, {gustatory sensation}, {taste perception}, {gustatory
          perception}]
     2: a strong liking; "my own preference is for good literature";
        "the Irish have a penchant for blarney" [syn: {preference},
         {penchant}, {predilection}]
     3: delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values);
        "arrogance and lack of taste contributed to his rapid
        success"; "to ask at that particular time was the ultimate
        in bad taste" [syn: {appreciation}, {discernment}, {perceptiveness}]
     4: a brief experience of something; "he got a taste of life on
        the wild side"; "she enjoyed her brief taste of
        independence"
     5: a small amount eaten or drunk; "take a taste--you'll like
        it" [syn: {mouthful}]
     6: the faculty of taste; "his cold deprived him of his sense of
        taste" [syn: {gustation}, {sense of taste}, {gustatory
        modality}]
     7: a kind of sensing; distinguishing substances by means of the
        taste buds; "a wine tasting" [syn: {tasting}]

taste
     v 1: have flavor; taste of something [syn: {savor}, {savour}]
     2: take a sample of; "Try these new crackers"; "Sample the
        regional dishes" [syn: {sample}, {try}, {try out}]
     3: perceive by the sense of taste; "Can you taste the garlic?"
     4: have a distinctive or characteristic taste; "This tastes of
        nutmeg" [syn: {smack}]
     5: distinguish flavors; "We tasted wines last night"
     6: experience briefly; "The ex-slave tasted freedom shortly
        before she died"

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

taste
     
        1. (primarily MIT) The quality of a program that tends to be
        inversely proportional to the number of features, hacks, and
        {kluge}s it contains.  Taste refers to sound judgment on the
        part of the creator.  See also {elegant}, {flavour}.
     
        2. Alternative spelling of "{tayste}".
     
        [{Jargon File}]