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ambrosia|æmˈbrəʊzɪə, -ʒɪə|
[a. L. ambrosia, a. Gr. ἀµβροσία, fem. of ἀµβρόσι-ος ‘pertaining to the immortals’ (f. ἄµβροτ-ος immortal, f. ἀ not + µβροτός = µροτός = µορτός mortal, root mor- ‘die’); used in mythology for the food, etc. of the immortals, but applied by Dioscorides and Pliny to one or more herbs.]
1. a. In Greek mythology, The fabled food of the gods and immortals (as in Homer, etc.).
1590T. Watson Poems (1870) 169 Now Melibœus..drinkes Nectar, eates diuine Ambrosia. 1603Florio Montaigne (1634) 144 It is for Gods to mount winged horses, and to feed on Ambrosia. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., The Ambrosia is commonly represented as the solid food of the gods. 1822De Quincey Confess. Wks. V. 194, I had heard of it as I had heard of manna or of ambrosia. 1877Bryant Odyss. v. 115 A table where the heaped ambrosia lay.
b. fig.
1610G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. ii. xxix, But he upon ambrosia daily fed, That grew in Eden. 1629Massinger Picture iii. v, To feed His appetite with that ambrosia due And proper to a prince. a1703Pomfret Poet. Wks. (1833) 13 Ambrosia mixed with aconite may have A pleasant taste, but sends you to the grave.
2. The fabled drink of the gods (as in Sappho, etc.).
1567J. Maplet Greene Forest Ded., Whose bread is Nectar, and drink Ambrosia, a sugred and confect kinde of Wine. 1599Marston Scourge of Vill. ii. vii. 204 Eates Nectar, drinkes Ambrosia, saunce controule. a1625Fletcher Night Walker i. 211 [A man that] cannot rellish Braggat from Ambrosia.
3. The fabled unguent or anointing oil of the gods; also fig.
1667Milton P.L. v. 57 His dewie locks distill'd Ambrosia. 1718Pope Iliad xix. 375 And pour'd divine ambrosia in his breast. 1791Cowper Odyss. xviii. 236 Her lovely face She with ambrosia purified.
4. transf. A mixture of water, oil, and various fruits anciently used as a libation; also a perfumed draught or flavoured beverage.
1685Gracian's Courtier's Orac. 201 Waters, which..smell of Physick, and they call them Ambrosia. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Juice, This Juice being well fermented and prepar'd with Clove, Cinnamon, &c., would prove an Ambrosia, that would not be esteem'd indifferent, by those who do not care to drink Water. 1807Robinson Archæol. Græca iii. ii. 195 They..poured before it a libation called ambrosia, which was a mixture of water, honey, and all kinds of fruits.
5. fig. Something divinely sweet or exquisitely delightful to taste or smell.
1731Swift Streph. & Chloe Wks. 1755 IV. i. 152 Venus-like her fragrant skin Exhal'd ambrosia from within. 1823De Quincey King of Hayti Wks. XII. 60 When a whole company had tasted the ambrosia of her lips. 1863M. Howitt tr. Bremer's Greece II. xiii. 86 The flavour of the grapes is ambrosia, which I take it for granted was something divine.
6. Bee-bread.
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. i. (1623) B iij, They gather with the one Nectar, with the other Ambrosia. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., The Ambrosia..if not speedily spent, corrupts and turns sowr. 1816Kirby & Spence Entomol. (1843) II. 149 Whether a bee had collected its ambrosia from one or more..species of flowers.
7. With the early herbalists a name of various plants: see ambrose.
1597Gerard Herbal 950 The fragrant smell that this kinde of Ambrosia or Oke of Cappadocia yeeldeth, hath mooued the Poets to suppose that this herbe was meate and foode for the gods. 1601Holland Pliny (1634) II. 273 Ambrosia is a name that keepeth not to any one herb, but is common to many. 1605Timme Quersit. i. xiii. 64 The oyles of..ambrosia, of sage, and betony. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., The Ambrosia of the moderns is not at all like the plant so called by the generality of the ancients.
8. Mod. Bot. A genus (family Compositæ) consisting of weeds allied to Wormwood. A. artemisifolia is the ‘Oak of Cappadocia’ or ‘of Jerusalem.’
1721Bailey, Ambrosia..an Herb called the Oak of Jerusalem.
9. A fungous substance which forms the food of certain N. American wood-boring beetles of various species (hence called ambrosia beetles).
1896Yearbk. U.S. Dept. Agr. 421 Their food consists not of wood, but of a substance to which the name ambrosia has been given, and which is a coating formed by certain minute fungi and propagated on the walls of their galleries by the beetles. 1922Glasgow Herald 16 Dec. 4 But some beetles that bore in fresh wood have discovered how to grow a mould that yields what is called ‘ambrosia’. 1924J. A. Thomson Sci. Old & New xvi. 89 The burrows of the ambrosia beetles are practically confined to the sap-wood. |