‖ nardus Now rare.
(ˈnɑːdəs)
[L. nardus: see nard n.]
Nard, spikenard (the ointment and plant). Also attrib. and fig.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 73 Þær wæron þreo þa betstan [wyrta], ele, & nardus, & spica. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cx. (1495) 672 Nardus is a lytyll herbe wyth pryckes and smellyth wel..and therof is treble manere kynde, Indica, Celtica, and Sirica. 1526 Tindale John xii. 3 A pounde of oyntment called nardus. 1535 Coverdale Mark xiv. 3 There came a woman which had a boxe of pure and costly Nardus oyntement. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 307 It is good to be poured into the eares with oyle of roses, or Nardus. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xviii. xv, Vpon his brest and forehead gently blew The aire, that balme and nardus breath'd vnseene. 1720 Strype Stow's Surv. (1754) II. vi. ii. 597/2 Edward is dead,..A King, or fragrant Nardus hight, a gracious princely Peer. 1797 Holcroft tr. Stolberg's Trav. (ed. 2) III. lxxix. 217 They..scattered this valuable water of the nardus. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 347/1 The first kind being called nardus, and distinguished into the Syrian and Indian varieties. |