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.

Tasting \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.

Source : WordNet®

tasting
     n 1: a small amount (especially of food or wine)
     2: a kind of sensing; distinguishing substances by means of the
        taste buds; "a wine tasting" [syn: {taste}]
     3: taking a small amount into the mouth to test its quality;
        "cooking was fine but it was the savoring that he enjoyed
        most" [syn: {savoring}, {savouring}, {relishing}, {degustation}]