ambrosial

English

Etymology

Partly from ambrosia and partly from Latin ambrosius, +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /amˈbɹəʊzɪəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /æmˈbɹoʊʒəl/
• Hyphenation: am‧bro‧si‧al

Adjective

ambrosial (comparative more ambrosial, superlative most ambrosial)

1. (Greek mythology) Pertaining to or worthy of the gods.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     And whilst he slept she [Venus] over him would spred / Her mantle, colour’d like the starry skyes, / And her soft arme lay underneath his hed, / And with ambrosiall kisses bathe his eyes [...]

2. Succulently sweet or fragrant; balmy, divine.
   • 1607, [Barnabe Barnes], The Divils Charter: A Tragædie Conteining the Life and Death of Pope Alexander the Sixt. […], London: Printed by G[eorge] E[ld] for Iohn Wright, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene ii:

     Thy Chamber with Ambroſiall odors breatheth, / New loues and true loues vnto them that entreateth, / And furious Mars made milde his Faulcheon ſheatheth / At thy delicious aſpect: […]

   • 1798 July, Walter Savage Landor, “Book VI”, in Gebir; a Poem: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxforshire: […] Slatter and Munday; and sold by R. S. Kirby, […], published 1803, →OCLC, page 107:

     While thus she spake, / She toucht his eye-lashes with libant lip / And breath'd ambrosial odours; […]

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XXVIII, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     [T]his young hero, rising from his bed, proceeded to decorate his beautiful person, and shave his ambrosial chin […]

   • 1826, J. S. Byerley, “You Taught Me Love”, in The Universal Songster, Volume 3:

     By your cheek of vermil hue, / By your lip’s ambrosial dew, / By your soft and languid eye, / By your swelling bosom’s sigh, / You taught me love.

Synonyms

• ambrosiac
• ambrosian

Derived terms

• ambrosially
• unambrosial

 

Translations

succulently sweet or fragrant

• Polish: ambrozyjski
• Portuguese: ambrosíaco