▪ I.festU.S.|fɛst|[a. G. fest festival.]With qualifying word, as gabfest, hen fest, talk fest, etc., denoting a festival or special occasion.1865Harper's Weekly 5 Aug. 490/2 Arrangements were made for the Saengerfest.1889Kansas Times & Star 24 June, Bob Ricketts won the gold medal at the shooting fest of the Kansas City Gun Club Saturday.1910Chicago Daily Maroon 10 June 1/2 After the roll call a ‘talk fest’ was indulged in by some of the old timers.1924[see bull n.4 3 b].1945A. J. Liebling in Best Amer. Short Stories (1946) 275 He explained that a rat fest was a ‘rat race, but all bollixed up’.1952M. Steen Phoenix Rising iv. 86 Some kind of a liquor-fest in an off-colour bar.1963M. McCarthy Group i. 23 She..loved..a good hen fest.1970Guardian 26 Sept. 11/2 ‘Cinema City’, the Round House's filmfest, ended with an open forum.▪ II.fest, fest-obs. ff. fast, fast-, feast, fist.