Qfyilyi

My English (vai Liverpool)-Canadian mother used this word to mean 'disgusted by' or 'repulsed by.' Example: "he is afeast of mixed foods." meaning you think mixed foods are disgusting or inedible.

I have been unable to locate any use or reference to this word, even in the unabridged dictionary, although I have seen 'afeard,' and similar variations, as archaic versions of afraid.

I have been unable to find the word itself, or a verb from which it might derive as a participle.

I can only suggest that it is an idiolectal or (very local) dialectal construction, on the analogy of afeard of, afeart of, building from a common exclamation of disgust which takes a wide variety of forms:

OLDER ENGLISH: foh, fah, faugh, fough, fie, fy, &c (OED 1: "An exclamation of abhorrence or disgust")

CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH: yechh [jɛx, jɛk], yik, yuk (Oxford Dictionaries: "informal expressing aversion or disgust". Also yechy, yukky, yikky, adjectives)

SCOTS: feech [fiç], feigh, feuch [fɪç, fjux] (Scots Online Dictionary: "An exclamation of disgust at a foul smell, pain, impatience or disappointment." Also feechie, adjective "Foul, dirty, disgusting, rainy, puddly")

The Scots version in particular might give rise to [fist], substituting an [s] for the un-English [ç]. Is there any Scots in your mother's background?

My mother is from a small town upstate New York (Dutch/English and French origin population) that dated back the the mid 17th century and they used the word afeast to describe something distasteful. My father from NYC had never heard of it but guessed on the afeared connection.

my grandparents used the word afeast in this way frequently. My grandmother was English and Pennsylvania Dutch. My grandfather, German, Irish and Polish. Not sure where it comes from but I grew up with it and use it often in this context. They were both from Morris County New Jersey.