ambrosia

Noun

ambrosia (countable and uncountable, plural ambrosias or (rare) ambrosiae)

1. (Greek, Roman) The food of the gods, thought to confer immortality.
   • He had a most intense admiration of female loveliness, and looked upon woman as a kind of super-angelic being, whose food should be the ambrosiæ and nectar of the gods, and whose garments the spotless white of vestal purity.1845 November, Caroline Lee Hentz, “The Mysterious Reticule”, in Sarah J[osepha] Hale, Morton M’Michael, Louis A[ntoine] Godey, editors, Godey’s Magazine and Lady’s Book, volume XXXI, number 16...
2. (Greek, Roman) The anointing-oil of the gods.
3. Any food with an especially delicious flavour or fragrance.
4. Anything delightfully sweet and pleasing.
   • A favorite. It’s refreshing now and will evolve into golden ambrosia with age. […] The dessert wines of the Loire Valley and AJsace also deserve recognition. From the Anjou area of the Loire come the ambrosiae of Savennières, Bonnezeaux, and Quarts de Chaume.2001, Jamal A. Rayyis, Food & Wine Magazine’s Wine Guide 2002, New York, N.Y.: American Express Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, pages 112 and 278
5. An annual herb historically used medicinally and in cooking, Dysphania botrys.
6. A mixture of nectar and pollen prepared by worker bees and fed to larvae.
7. Any fungus of a number of species that insects such as ambrosia beetles carry as symbionts, "farming" them on poor-quality food such as wood, where they grow, providing food for the insect.
8. A dessert originating in the Southern United States made of shredded coconuts and tropical fruits such as pineapples and oranges; some recipes also include ingredients such as marshmallow and cream.
9. A plant of the genus Ambrosia.
   • Their disease does not appear before August. At this time, throughout the entire United States one could say, not only in every field, in every meadow and in every forest, but even in the largest cities, there blooms the ambrosiæ, which are commonly known as ragweed; […]1905 June, W[illia]m [Philipps] Dunbar, “An Address on the Cause and Treatment of Hay-Fever”, in H[anau] W[olf] Loeb, editor, Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology, volume XIV, number 2, St....
   • Fig. 1.—Spiculated pollens of ragweeds (ambrosias) low in protein. […] In the cocklebur (Xanthium americanum) and the rough wild elder (Iva ciliata), the spicules are shorter, being 0.7 and 0.5 microns, and the reaction is proportionately less active than with the ragweeds (ambrosias). […] While...1916 September 16, W[illiam] Scheppegrell, “Direct and Indirect Hay-Fever: Preliminary Report of the Research Department of the American Hay-Fever-Prevention Association on the Etiology of...

   Synonyms:

   ragweed