savour
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- savor (chiefly US)
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English savour, from Old French savour, from Latin sapor (“taste, flavor”), from sapiō (“taste of, have a flavor of”). Doublet of sapor.
Noun[edit]
savour (countable and uncountable, plural savours) (British spelling)
- The specific taste or smell of something.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 5, in Moonfleet, London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934:
- He held out to me a bowl of steaming broth, that filled the room with a savour sweeter, ten thousand times, to me than every rose and lily of the world; yet would not let me drink it at a gulp, but made me sip it with a spoon like any baby.
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, →OCLC:
- Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.
- A distinctive sensation.
- 1650, Richard Baxter, The Saints Everlasting Rest:
- Why is not my life a continual joy, and the savour of heaven perpetually upon my spirit?
- Sense of smell; power to scent, or trace by scent.
- [1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885, →OCLC:
- beyond my savour
- Pleasure; appreciation; relish.
Translations[edit]
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Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle English savour, from Old French savourer, from savour, or possibly Late Latin sapōrāre, present active infinitive of sapōrō, from sapor (“taste, flavor”), from sapiō (“taste of, have a flavor of”).
Verb[edit]
savour (third-person singular simple present savours, present participle savouring, simple past and past participle savoured) (British spelling)
- (intransitive) To possess a particular taste or smell, or a distinctive quality.
- c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- This savours not much of distraction.
- 1712 January 11 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, December 31, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 262; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
- I have rejected everything that savours of party.
- 1750, Joseph Bellamy, True Religion Delineated:
- Begone, thou impudent wretch, to hell, thy proper place: thou art a despiser of my glorious majesty, and your frame of spirit savours of blasphemy.
- (transitive) To appreciate, enjoy or relish something.
- 2020 August 26, Andrew Mourant, “Reinforced against future flooding”, in Rail, page 58:
- A journey along the Conwy Valley line is one to savour for aficionados of scenic railways.
- He closed his eyes so he could really savour his dessert.
- (transitive, archaic) To season.
- 1974, W. R. Barron, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (modern translation)
- […] divers sorts of fish; some baked in bread, some broiled on the coals, some seethed, some in gravy savoured with spices, and all with condiments so cunning that it caused him delight.
- 1974, W. R. Barron, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (modern translation)
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Anagrams[edit]
Middle English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Borrowed from Old French savor, savour, from Latin sapor, sapōrem.
Noun[edit]
savour
Descendants[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
Noun[edit]
savour
- Alternative form of saveour
Old French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin sapor, sapōrem.
Noun[edit]
savour oblique singular, m (oblique plural savours, nominative singular savours, nominative plural savour)
Quotations[edit]
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:savour.
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪvə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/eɪvə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English terms with audio links
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *seh₁p-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- British English forms
- English terms with quotations
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with archaic senses
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Latin
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French masculine nouns