ambrosial, a.
(æmˈbrəʊzɪəl, -ʒɪəl)
[f. L. ambrosi-us, a. Gr. ἀµβρόσι-ος (see ambrosia) + -al1.]
1. Immortal, divine, celestial, ethereal. a. orig. in the Greek mythology: Belonging to or worthy of the gods, as their food, anointing oil, locks, raiment, sandals, etc.
| 1596 Drayton Leg. iii. 118 Me with Ambrosiall Delicacies fed. 1718 Pope Iliad v. 460 Fed by fair Iris with ambrosial food. 1790 Cowper Iliad i. 685 The sovereign's everlasting head his curls Ambrosial shook. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. vi. 193 They need the refreshment of ambrosial food. 1866 Felton Greece I. viii. 129 The Homeric father of gods and men, from whose head the locks ambrosial waved. 1870 Bryant Homer II. xiv. 54 Rich oil, Ambrosial, soft and fragrant. 1877 ― Odyss. v. 57 The fair, ambrosial, golden sandals. |
b. transf. Belonging to heaven or paradise.
| 1637 Milton Comus 16, I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould. 1647 Crashaw Poems 206 The bright ambrosial nest, Of love, of life, and everlasting rest. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 586 Ambrosial fruits, fetched from the tree of life, And from the fount of life ambrosial drink. c 1746 Hervey Medit. & Cont. (1818) 109 The trees of life and knowledge, whose ambrosial fruits we now may ‘take and eat, and live for ever.’ |
c. fig. Divinely fragrant; perfumed as with ambrosia; balmy; rarely, Divinely beautiful.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 852 Fruit, that..ambrosial smell diffus'd. 1702 Rowe Amb. Step-Mother iii. ii. 46 From thee..Ambrosial Odours flow. 1719 Young Revenge v. i. Wks. 1757 II. 173 Th' ambrosial rose, And breath of jess'min. 1781 Cowper Expostul. 11 Ambrosial gardens. 1815 Moore Lalla R. (1824) 248 One of those ambrosial eves A day of storm so often leaves. 1847 Tennyson Princess 87 The broad ambrosial aisles of lofty lime. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii. 345 When any ambrosial colour spread itself. |
2. Of the pollen of flowers, or of bee-bread. rare.
| 1816 Kirby & Spence Entomol. (1843) II. 157 [It] covers itself with their ambrosial dust which it kneads into a mass and packs upon its hind legs. |