sapor, sapour
(ˈseɪpɔː(r), -pə(r))
Also 6 sapowr.
[a. L. sapor, sapōr-em taste (whence F. saveur savour), f. sapĕre to taste, to be sapid.]
A quality such as is perceived by the sense of taste, as sweetness, bitterness, sourness, etc.; a taste, savour; the taste or savour of a substance, esp. of an article of food or drink. Now chiefly in scientific use.
† sapor Pontic, sapor styptic: particular ‘sapors’ frequently mentioned by the alchemists as indicative of the nature or condition of substances under examination (see also Pontic, styptic).
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 63 Which I teach you to knowne by signes fowre, By Colour, Odour, Sapor and Liquore. Ibid. v. 69 As Sapor of Meates chaungeth your Tastinge. c 1480 Henryson Orpheus & Eurydice 23 Lyke as a strand of water or a spring Haldis the sapour of his fontall well. 1513 Douglas æneis v. Prol. 54 Not jawyn fra tun to tun, In fresche sapour new fro the berrie run. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 6158 In thare mouth, ane taist, as I heir tell, Off sweit and Supernaturall Sapowris. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 628 The other Nerue is sprinckled into the flesh of the Tongue..and by that meanes the Tongue is made apprehensiue of Sapors. 1638 Featly Transubst. 76 You tast nothing but bread in the one, and the sapour of wine in the other. 1682 Creech tr. Lucretius iv. 117 Whil'st Colours strike the Eyes, Odours the Smell, Sapours the Tast. 1699 Evelyn Acetaria 91 With⁓out being over-power'd by some Herb of a stronger Taste, so as to endanger the native Sapor and Vertue of the rest. 1725 Watts Logic ii. iii. §1 To discover the shape of those little particles of matter which distinguish the various sapors, odors, and colors of bodies. 1826 Hor. Smith Tor Hill (1838) III. 314 The exquisite sapor of their French dishes. 1849–52 Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 857/1 There remains a large class of pure sapors, of which we take cognizance without the assistance of smell, and which are altogether dissimilar to any tactile impressions: such as the bitter of quinine. 1861 Lankester On Food 256 We will call these substances which are tasted, sapours, in opposition to those which are called odours. |
| fig. c 1568 Lauder Min. P., Ane Godlie Tractate 110 Tha want the Sapour of the spreit Of Christ Jesus. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iv. 62 This deservedly rules al offices which flow from its empire, are tinctured with its color and sapor, and ought to be referred to it. |
b. In generalized sense: Quality in relation to the sense of taste.
| 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. i. 10 The gullet and conveying parts are [not] appertaining unto sapor. 1680 Boyle Scept. Chem. vi. 394 Sapour being an Accident or an Affection of matter that relates to our..Organs of Tast. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Saporifick Particles, are such as by their Action on the Tongue occasion that Sensation which we call Taste or Sapor. |