nectar
(ˈnɛktə(r))
Also 6 -er.
[a. L. nectar, a. Gr. νέκταρ, of obscure origin.]
1. Class. Myth. The drink of the gods.
Sometimes incorrectly applied to the food of the gods: see ambrosia 2.
| 1555 Eden Decades To Rdr. (Arb.) 49 The sweete ambrosia and nectar wherwith the goddes are fedde. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Nov. 195 There lives shee with the blessed Gods in blisse, There drincks she Nectar with Ambrosia mixt. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle v. 1913 He esteemes the nectar of the goddes..to come short..Of this delicious iuice. 1684 T. Burnet The. Earth i. 190 They would never have seen seven..hundred years go over their heads, though they had been nourisht with nectar and ambrosia. c 1718 Prior Mercury & Cupid 21 We'll take one cooling cup of nectar. 1819 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iii. i. 30 Drink! be the nectar circling through your veins The soul of joy. 1873 Hamerton Intell. Life i. iii. 21 Not the nectar of the gods..were worth the dash of a wave upon the beach. |
| fig. 1557 N. Grimalde in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 104 Woords, sweeter than the sugar sweet, with heauenly nectar drest. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster v. i, Knowledge is the nectar, that keepes sweet A perfect soule. 1657 H. Pinnell Philos. Ref. 215 That..they may..drink of the everlasting Ambrosian Nectar of Eternity. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 32 ¶9 All..implore from Nature's hand the nectar of oblivion. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 244 He inspires Their balmy odours,..And bathes their eyes with nectar. |
b. fig. (
cf. ambrosia 5).
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 572 Had she then gave over, Such nectar from his lips she had not suck'd. 1631 Massinger Emperor East ii, May I taste then The nectar of her lip? |
2. transf. a. Any delicious wine or other drink.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. M iv b, The Nippitatum, this Huf-cap (as they call it) and this nectar of lyfe. 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 200 These fellowes..call the worst wine they drink Nectar. 1662 H. Stubbe (title) The Indian Nectar, or a Discourse concerning Chocolate. 1718 Ozell tr. Tournefort's Voy. I. 283 In making Nectar, so called even to this day, they make use of another kind of grape. 1775 R. Chandler Trav. Greece (1825) II. 3 It lay opposite to the rugged tract called Arvisia, once famous for its nectar. 1800 Moore Anacreon xxxviii, Grasp the bowl; in nectar sinking, Man of sorrow, drown thy thinking! 1863 M. Howitt tr. F. Bremer's Greece I. vii. 246 The Malvasia wine is an earthly nectar. |
b. The sweet fluid or honey produced by plants,
esp. as collected by bees.
| 1609 Butler Fem. Mon. i. (1623) B iij, Whereas they gather with the one Nectar, with the other Ambrosia. 1657 Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. i. xv. 94 Thyme, which onely yeeldeth Nectar. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 240 Sweet Honey some condense,..The rest, in Cells apart, the liquid Nectar shut. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ii. 463 As bees mixt Nectar draw from fragrant flow'rs. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. ii. (1813) 22 From flowers we eventually gratify the palate by a valuable nectar. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. iv. (1873) 74 The bees, which had flown from tree to tree in search of nectar. 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 472 Insects..searching for the nectar. |
† c. (See
quot.)
Obs. rare—0.
| 1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Necta[r]..with Physicians..signifies rather a Medicinal Drink, but with a most delicious colour, taste and smell. [Hence in Phillips (1696) and some later Dicts.] |
3. attrib., as
nectar cup,
nectar dew,
nectar epistle,
nectar-flood,
nectar fountain,
nectar love,
nectar stream; (sense 2 b)
nectar-chamber,
nectar-gland;
nectar-bird, a honey-sucker or sunbird belonging to the
Nectariniidæ;
nectar-guides,
-marks, or
-spots, coloured marks or spots on certain plants, supposed to indicate the point at which the nectar is secreted (
Syd. Soc. Lex. 1892).
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 284/2 The difference between the two structures is softened down by the intervention of the *nectar-birds. |
| 1865 Duke of Argyll in Gd. Words Mar. 231 Some of these have *nectar-chambers of most curious plan. |
| 1847 Emerson Poems, To Rhea, Who drinks of Cupid's *nectar cup Loveth downward, and not up. |
| 1798 W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) I. 118 Scarce his tongue..Had from the goblet suck'd the *nectar dew. |
| 1622 Peacham Compl. Gent. x. (1634) 92 What can be..more sweete than that *nectar Epistle of his? |
| 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. l, To allay With dropping *nectar floods, the furie of their way. |
| a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1644) 256 Over the silver Mountains, Where springs the *Nectar Fountains. |
| 1883 Evang. Mag. July 310 This is the *nectar-gland, and it, with its scale, is called the Nectary. |
| a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 23/1 So in the sweetness of his *nectar love..Sowr is far better. |
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. v. Wks. 1856 I. 67 On *Nectar streams of your sweete ayres, to flote. |
b. Comb., as
nectar-breathing,
nectar-dropping,
nectar-like,
nectar-loving,
nectar-secreting,
nectar-seeking,
nectar-spouting,
nectar-streaming,
nectar-tongued.
| 1597 Pilgr. Parnass. iv. 386 One touch of her sweete *nectar-breathinge mouth. |
| 1619 Drayton Wks. (1753) IV. 1280 Where..myrrhe-breathing zephyr..Gently distills his *nectar-dropping showers. 1647 H. More Cupid's Conflict lxviii, Thy Nectar-dropping Muse, thy sugar'd song. 1839–52 Bailey Festus 490 Intwined about with nectar-dropping flowers. |
| 1598 Florio, Nettareo,..sweet, pleasant, *Nectar-like. |
| 1897 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Dec. 663 *Nectar-loving insects. |
| 1880 Bessey Botany §531 Provided with *nectar-secreting glands. |
| 1835 W. Irving Tour Prairies 63 A very paradise for the *nectar-seeking bee. |
| 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. (Roxb.) 233 By Elysiums *Nectar-spouting fountaines. |
| 1745 Warton Pleas. Melanch. 292 Though Venus..With her on *nectar-streaming fruitage feast. |
| 1596 C. Fitzgeffrey Sir F. Drake (1881) 78 *Nectar-tongu'd Sydney, Englands Mars, and Muse. |