Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sweet liquid that many plants secrete from specialized structures, often inside flowers, where it serves to attract pollinators such as certain insects and birds. Bees use nectar to make honey.
  • noun Greek & Roman Mythology The drink of the gods.
  • noun A beverage containing fruit juice or purée.
  • noun A delicious or invigorating drink.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In classical mythology, the drink or wine of the Olympian gods, poured out for them by Hebe and Ganymede, the cupbearers of Zeus.
  • noun Hence, any delicious and salubrious drink.
  • noun In botany, the honey of a flower; the superfluous saccharine matter remaining after the stamens and pistils have consumed all that they require.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Myth. & Poetic) The drink of the gods (as ambrosia was their food); hence, any delicious or inspiring beverage.
  • noun (Bot.) A sweetish secretion of blossoms from which bees make honey.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun fruit juice especially when undiluted
  • noun (classical mythology) the food and drink of the gods; mortals who ate it became immortal
  • noun a sweet liquid secretion that is attractive to pollinators

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin, from Greek nektar, drink of the gods; see nek- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (nektar, "nourishment of the gods"), from νέκ ("death") (see necro-) + ταρ ("overcoming"), from Proto-Indo-European *tere (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”).

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