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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

fla·vor       (flā'vər)  Pronunciation Key  n.   Distinctive taste; savor: a flavor of smoke in bacon. See Synonyms at taste. A distinctive yet intangible quality felt to be characteristic of a given thing: "What matters in literature . . . is surely the idiosyncratic, the individual, the flavor or color of a particular human suffering" (Harold Bloom). A flavoring: contains no artificial flavors. Physics Any of six classifications of quark varieties (up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom), distinguished by mass and electric charge. Archaic Aroma; fragrance. tr.v.   fla·vored, fla·vor·ing, fla·vors To give flavor to. [Middle English flavour, aroma, from Old French flaor, from Vulgar Latin *flātor, from Latin flāre, to blow; see bhlē- in Indo-European roots.] fla'vor·er n., fla'vor·less adj., fla'vor·ous (-əs), fla'vor·some (-səm) adj., fla'vor·y adj.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
flavor 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

flavor
noun
1.	the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people; "the feel of the city excited him"; "a clergyman improved the tone of the meeting"; "it had the smell of treason" [syn: spirit]
2.	the taste experience when a savoury condiment is taken into the mouth [syn: relish]
3.	(physics) the six kinds of quarks
verb
1.	lend flavor to; "Season the chicken breast after roasting it" [syn: season]

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

flavor       (flā'vər)  Pronunciation Key  Any of six classifications of quark varieties, distinguished by mass and electric charge. The flavors have the names up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom. Protons in atomic nuclei are composed of two up quarks and one down quark, while neutrons consist of one up quark and two down quarks. The flavor of a quark may be changed in interactions involving the weak force.

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

flavor spelling
US spelling of "flavour".
[The Jargon File]
(1997-03-18)

Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

flavor

n.
1. [common] Variety, type, kind. "DDT commands come in two flavors." "These lights come in two flavors, big red ones and small green ones." "Linux is a flavor of Unix" See vanilla.
2. The attribute that causes something to be flavorful. Usually used in the phrase "yields additional flavor". "This convention yields additional flavor by allowing one to print text either right-side-up or upside-down." See vanilla. This usage was certainly reinforced by the terminology of quantum chromodynamics, in which quarks (the constituents of, e.g., protons) come in six flavors (up, down, strange, charm, top, bottom) and three colors (red, blue, green) -- however, hackish use of `flavor' at MIT predated QCD.
3. The term for `class' (in the object-oriented sense) in the LISP Machine Flavors system. Though the Flavors design has been superseded (notably by the Common LISP CLOS facility), the term `flavor' is still used as a general synonym for `class' by some LISP hackers.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Flavor

Fla"vor\, n. [OF. fleur, flaur (two syllables), odor, cf. F. fleurer to emit an odor, It. flatore a bad odor, prob. fr. L. flare to bow, whence the sense of exhalation. Cf. Blow.] [Written also flavour.]

1. That quality of anything which affects the smell; odor; fragrances; as, the flavor of a rose.

2. That quality of anything which affects the taste; that quality which gratifies the palate; relish; zest; savor; as, the flavor of food or drink.

3. That which imparts to anything a peculiar odor or taste, gratifying to the sense of smell, or the nicer perceptions of the palate; a substance which flavors.

4. That quality which gives character to any of the productions of literature or the fine arts.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Flavor

Fla"vor\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flavored; p. pr. & vb. n. Flavoring.] To give flavor to; to add something (as salt or a spice) to, to give character or zest.