the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > feasting > feast [verb (intransitive)] > preside at feast (4)
to begin the dais: to take the chief seat, or preside, at a feast: see begin, v.1 5. Also to hold the dais in same sense. Obsolete.
spec. A table used for meals; now, always, a table spread for a repast. Chiefly poetical, except in certain phrases, esp. in association with bed to…
Phrases. †to begin the board, dais, etc.: to sit at the head of the table. †to begin a toast: to propose a toast. †to begin to a person: to…
intransitive. To sit at the head of the table.