A repast is a meal, especially a formal or substantial one. When a family gathers for Thanksgiving dinner, they're sharing a festive repast. When a king in a medieval story hosts a grand banquet, he's providing a magnificent repast for his guests.

The word carries a sense of ceremony or importance. You wouldn't usually call a quick sandwich a repast, but you might describe the spread at a wedding reception or holiday feast that way. In older books, you'll often find characters sitting down to their evening repast after a long day's journey, or being invited to partake of a light repast of bread and cheese.

While repast sounds rather old-fashioned and formal today, it's still used, particularly in literary writing or when describing meals with special significance. It reminds us that eating together has always been more than just refueling: it's a social occasion, and sometimes even a sacred one.