confectionary, a. and n.
(kənˈfɛkʃənərɪ)
[f. confection + -ary: with B. cf. med.L. confectiōnāri-us maker of confections, apothecary.]
A. adj. Of the nature of a confection, comfit, or sweetmeat; of or pertaining to confections or confectioners' work.
| 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 104 The Galenical Shop-Cordials, and their other Confectionary Medicaments. 1790 Cowper On Receipt Mother's Pict. 61 Thy morning bounties ere I left my home, The biscuit, or confectionary plum. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 221 The..unnameable confectionary doings over which she presided. 1861 Sat. Rev. XLI. 489/2 The peculiarly vulgar stone reredos—ill copied, in a confectionary spirit. |
B. n.
† 1. A maker of confections; a confectioner. Obs.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxii. 80 We make a few poesies to hould in our hands, but no man bringeth them to the confectionary that Receits mought be made of them for vse of life. [But this is taken by some as a place.] 1611 Bible 1 Sam. viii. 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cookes, and to be bakers. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. 233 He was a Cook, or Confectionary. Ibid. 298 The woman..was an excellent Confectionary, very cunning in poisons. |
2. A place where confections are kept or prepared.
(But some take quot. 1607 in sense 1.)
| [1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 260 My selfe, Who had the world as my Confectionarie.] 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 585 The Confectionarie or Closet of sweet meats. 1754 Richardson Grandison (1812) II. 226 (D.) Here, ladies, are the keys of the stores, of the confectionary, of the wine-vaults. 1839 Mrs. Gore in Tait's Mag. VI. 650 The confectionary of the convent of Sancta Benedicta. |
3. A confectionary preparation; a sweetmeat.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe (1871) 36 Aboue all junquetries or confectionaries whatsoeuer. 1714 Fr. Bk. of Rates 102 Sugar..to be made use of in Confectionaries, Physick, and the like. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby i. iv, Ever and anon she..insisted upon his taking some particular confectionary, because it was a favourite of her own. |
4. Improperly used for confectionery, meaning the confectioner's art.
| 1743 Lond. & Country Brew. ii. (ed. 2) Advt., Five Hundred new Receipts in Cookery, Confectionary, Pastry, Preserving, Conserving, and Pickling. 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (1840) III. xliv. 139 Immediately two hundred dishes of the most costly cookery and confectionary were served up. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 180 The great uses of sugar..especially in confectionary. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 281 The delights, as they are esteemed, of Athenian confectionary. |