regale

verb re·gale \ ri-ˈgāl \

Updated on: 25 Apr 2018

regaled; regaling

transitive verb

1 : to entertain sumptuously : feast with delicacies

2 : to give pleasure or amusement to

regaled us with tall tales

intransitive verb

: to feast oneself : feed

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Examples of regale in a Sentence

regaled his grandchildren with stories of his time in Morocco
an inn that nightly regales its guests with five-course meals prepared by a master chef

Recent Examples of regale from the Web

Last night at Fortune’s annual Brainstorm Tech dinner in San Francisco, Chain CEO Adam Ludwin regaled attendees with his astute take on cryptocurrencies.

— robert hackett, Fortune, "Term Sheet -- Wednesday April 18," 18 Apr. 2018
His uncle Miguele would bring him gifts and regale him with tales about his frequent visits to Colombia, and take him to local Latin festivals.

— billy witz, New York Times, "How Giancarlo Stanton Let Go of ‘Mike’ and Embraced Who He Is," 2 Apr. 2018
Upon meeting McCain, Tully regaled him with stories of his own military service as an Air Force pilot in Korea and Vietnam.

— azcentral, "The ever-ambitious John McCain rises to the U.S. Senate," 2 Apr. 2018
After several years of regaling the leading lights of Restoration London with his tales of singeing the Don’s beard, Morgan realized that respectable society was beginning to lose interest in him.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "The Island that Disappeared," 20 Mar. 2018
Mary Carillo and Lindsay Davenport regaled viewers with a story about a man who once made his service toss and watched it blow away over a fence.

— bill dwyre, latimes.com, "Taylor's upset bid goes on Fritz at BNP Paribas Open, but young American shows promise," 15 Mar. 2018
At Gunflint Lodge, the owner regaled us with the tale of her teenage son's first behind-the-wheel encounter with wildlife.

— kerri westenberg, chicagotribune.com, "Searching for moose, and dinner, in northern Minnesota," 7 Mar. 2018
Later that week, Trump regaled a right-wing conference outside Washington with promises to build the wall and crack down on immigration.

— ishaan tharoor, Washington Post, "North America’s no-good, very bad week of diplomacy," 26 Feb. 2018
Almost daily, my friend from journalism regaled me with stories about life outside of my shrinking world and shared her experience with pancreatic cancer, which had stolen her husband more than a year before.

— mildred l. culp, Houston Chronicle, "WorkWise: Beating cancer through work," 26 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'regale.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Regale has been an English verb since at least 1656; it was adapted from French régaler, which has the same meaning as "regale." The French verb goes back to Middle French galer, which means "to have a good time," and to Old French gale, meaning "pleasure." (Gala, meaning "a festive celebration," is from the same source.) "Regale" also has a history as a noun meaning "a sumptuous feast." That use dates back to at least 1670, when someone penned the following notice for posterity: "My Lord Duke will not be able to get away yet…, all the regales that are intended for him not being yet at an end." (The lord referred to is the Duke of Buccleuch, whose regales ended once and for all 15 years later when he was beheaded.)