English

Noun

nectar ‎(plural nectars)

1. (chiefly mythology) The drink of the gods. [from 16th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     They pourd in soveraine balme and Nectar good, / Good both for erthly med'cine and for hevenly food.

2. (by extension) Any delicious drink, now especially a type of sweetened fruit juice. [from 16th c.]
3. (botany) The sweet liquid secreted by flowers to attract pollinating insects and birds. [from 17th c.]

Related terms

• nectarine
• nectarous
• nectary

Translations

See also

• ambrosia
• pollen

Verb

nectar ‎(third-person singular simple present nectars, present participle nectaring, simple past and past participle nectared)

1. (intransitive) To feed on nectar.
   • 2010, Robert Michael Pyle, Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year (page 123)

     On the lane below, more orangetips nectared on spring beauties and violets.

References

Anagrams

• canter
• carnet
• centra
• Cretan
• recant
• trance

French

Noun

nectar m ‎(plural nectars)

1. nectar (all meanings)

Derived terms

• nectaire

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek νέκταρ ‎(néktar).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈnek.tar/, [ˈnɛk.tar]

Noun

nectar n ‎(genitive nectaris); third declension

1. nectar

Inflection

Third declension neuter “pure” i-stem.

Descendants

• English: nectar
• Italian: nettare

Verb

nectar

1. first-person singular future passive indicative of nectō

References

• nectar in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• nectar in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nectar in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nectar in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray