different between zest vs verve

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French zeste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /z?st/
• Rhymes: -?st

Noun

zest (countable and uncountable, plural zests)

1. The outer skin of a citrus fruit, used as a flavouring or garnish.

   The orange zest gives the strong flavor in this dish.

2. General vibrance of flavour.

   I add zest to the meat by rubbing it with a spice mixture before grilling.

   • 1959, Peter De Vries, The Tents of Wickedness, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., “The Treehouse,” Chapter 7, p. 92,^[1]

     He rolled his own cigarettes from a sack of Bull Durham, spilling flakes into his beer, which no doubt gained in zest thereby.

   • 1978, Joseph Singer et al. (translators), Shosha by Isaac Bashevis Singer, New York: Fawcett Crest, Part One, Chapter Five, 1, p. 99,^[2]

     Bashele’s dishes tasted as good as they had when I was a child. No one could give to the borscht such a sweet-and-sour zest as Bashele.

3. (by extension) Enthusiasm; keen enjoyment; relish; gusto.

   Auntie Mame had a real zest for life.

   • 1728, Edward Young, Love of Fame, the Universal Passion, Satire II in The Works of the Reverend Edward Young, London: P. Brown, H. Hill & S. Payne, 1765, Volume I, p. 85,^[3]

     Almighty vanity! to thee they owe

     Their zest of pleasure, and their balm of woe.

   • 1807, Thomas Cogan, An Ethical Treatise on the Passions, Bath: Hazard & Binns, Part 1, Disquisition 1, Chapter 1, Section 1 “On the utility of the Passions and Affections,” p. 51,^[4]

     Liberality of disposition and conduct gives the highest zest and relish to social intercourse.

   • 1928, D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1995, Chapter 9, p. 101,^[5]

     Once started, Mrs. Bolton was better than any book, about the lives of the people. She knew them all so intimately, and had such a peculiar, flamey zest in all their affairs, it was wonderful, if just a trifle humiliating to listen to her.

   • 1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York: Dell, 1963, Book Two, Chapter 2, p. 221,^[6]

     The singers, male and female, wore blue jeans and long hair and had more zest than talent.
4. (rare) The woody, thick skin enclosing the kernel of a walnut.
   • 2006, N. J. Nusha, On the Edge (Short Stories), Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, p. 85,

     The green zest of walnuts was used by the women to shine their teeth and it also gave a beautiful rust colour to their lips.

Synonyms

• (enthusiasm): gusto, relish
• (general vibrance of flavour): punch, spice, tang, zing

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

zest (third-person singular simple present zests, present participle zesting, simple past and past participle zested)

1. (cooking) To scrape the zest from a fruit.
2. To make more zesty.
   • 1792, James Cobb, The Siege of Belgrade, a Comic Opera, in Three Acts, page 47:

     Strains ?o artle?s tho’ we proffer,
     Hearts o’er flowing zest the offer.

Derived terms

• zester

References

Anagrams

• Tsez

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /z?st/

Noun

zest m (plural zests)

1. zest (of a fruit)

Further reading

• “zest” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Swedish

Noun

zest c

1. zest; the outer skin of a citrus fruit

Declension

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French verve (“rapture, animation, spirit, caprice, whim”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v??(r)v/
• Rhymes: -??(r)v

Noun

verve (uncountable)

1. Rapture, enthusiasm, spirit, vigour, especially of imagination such as that which animates a poet, artist, or musician, in composing or performing.

Translations

Further reading

• verve in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• verve in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• vever

Dutch

Verb

verve

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of verven

French

Etymology

Probably from Late Latin verva, alteration of the plural of Latin verbum. Doublet of verbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v??v/

Noun

verve f (plural verves)

1. eloquence
2. verve, brio

Descendants

• ? English: verve
• ? German: Verve
• ? Italian: verve

Further reading

• “verve” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Hungarian

Etymology

ver (“to beat”) +? -ve (adverbial-participle suffix)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?v?rv?]
• Hyphenation: ver?ve
• Rhymes: -v?

Participle

verve

1. adverbial participle of ver

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from French verve.

Noun

verve f (invariable)

1. verve

   Synonyms: brio, estro, vivacità

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• verva (a-infintive)

Etymology

From Old Norse hverfa, with influence from Middle Low German werven. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hwarbijan?. Doublet of kverve.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²?ær.??/ (example of pronunciation)

Verb

verve (present tense vervar, past tense verva, past participle verva, passive infinitive vervast, present participle vervande, imperative verv)

1. (transitive) to enlist
2. (reflexive) to enlist, to join a cause or organization, especially military service

References

• “verve” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• vever