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Ambrosia - 7 dictionary results

am⋅bro⋅sia

[am-broh-zhuh]
–noun
1. Classical Mythology. the food of the gods. Compare nectar (def. 3).
2. something especially delicious to taste or smell.
3. a fruit dessert made of oranges and shredded coconut and sometimes pineapple.

Origin:
1545–55; < L < Gk: immortality, food of the gods, n. use of fem. of ambrósios, equiv. to a- a- 6 + -mbros- (comb. form of brotōs mortal; akin to L mortuus dead, murder ) + -ios adj. suffix; r. ME ambrose, ambrosie < OF ambroise < L
am·bro·sia   (ām-brō'zhə, -zhē-ə)   
n.  
  1. Greek & Roman Mythology The food of the gods, thought to confer immortality.
  2. Something with an especially delicious flavor or fragrance.
  3. A dessert containing primarily oranges and flaked coconut.

[Latin, from Greek ambrosiā, from ambrotos, immortal, immortalizing; see mer- in Indo-European roots.]

Ambrosia

Am*bro"sia\ (?; 277), n. [L. ambrosia, Gr. ?, properly fem. of ?, fr. ? immortal, divine; 'a priv. + ? mortal (because it was supposed to confer immortality on those who partook of it). ? stands for ?, akin to Skr. mrita, L. mortuus, dead, and to E. mortal.]

1. (Myth.) (a) The fabled food of the gods (as nectar was their drink), which conferred immortality upon those who partook of it. (b) An unguent of the gods.

His dewy locks distilled ambrosia. --Milton.

2. A perfumed unguent, salve, or draught; something very pleasing to the taste or smell. --Spenser.

3. Formerly, a kind of fragrant plant; now (Bot.), a genus of plants, including some coarse and worthless weeds, called ragweed, hogweed, etc.

Ambrosia

Am*bro"sia\, n. (Zo["o]l.) The food of certain small bark beetles, family Scolytid[ae] believed to be fungi cultivated by the beetles in their burrows.

ambrosia [(am-broh-zhuh)]

The food of the gods in classical mythology. Those who ate it became immortal.

Note: Particularly delicious food is sometimes called “ambrosia.”

ambrosia 
1555, "favored food or drink of the gods," from L. ambrosia, from Gk. ambrosios, lit. "of the immortals," from a- "not" + mbrotos, related to mortos "mortal." Applied to certain herbs by Pliny and Dioscorides; used of various foods for mortals since 1685 (originally of fruit drinks).

Main Entry: Am·bro·sia
Pronunciation: am-'brO-zh(E-)&
Function: noun
: a genus of mostly American monoecious composite herbs that includesthe ragweeds
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