savour
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈseɪvə/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈseɪvəɹ/
Audio (AU) (file) - Homophone: saver
- Rhymes: -eɪvə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: sav‧our
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English savour (“flavour; flavouring; taste; smell; appetite; characteristic; essence; attractiveness; delight, pleasure; knowledge, wisdom”),[1] from Anglo-Norman saveur, savor, savour, and Old French saveur, savor, savour (“flavour; flavouring; taste; scent; delight, pleasure; knowledge, wisdom”) (modern French saveur), from Latin sapor (“flavour; taste; scent; smell”),[2] from sapiō (“to taste of (something); to have a flavour”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p-, *sep- (“to taste; to try out”)) + -or (suffix forming third-declension masculine abstract nouns). Doublet of sapor.
Noun[edit]
savour (countable and uncountable, plural savours) (British spelling)
- (countable) An aroma or smell.
- 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.
- (uncountable) The quality which the sense of taste detects; also (countable), a specific flavour or taste, especially one different from the predominant one.
- (countable, chiefly in the negative) An appealing or appetizing flavour, especially one which is savoury or strong.
- (figurative)
- (countable) A distinctive sensation like a flavour or taste, or an aroma or smell.
- 1650, Richard Baxter, The Saints Everlasting Rest:
- Why is not my life a continual joy, and the savour of heaven perpetually upon my spirit?
- 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.
- (countable) A particular quality, especially a small amount of it; a hint or trace of something.
- Synonym: tinge
- (countable, chiefly in the negative) A quality which is appealing or enjoyable; merit, value.
- (uncountable) Enjoyment or taste for something; appreciation; pleasure; relish; (countable) an instance of this.
- (uncountable, obsolete) Knowledge; understanding.
- [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
- (countable) A distinctive sensation like a flavour or taste, or an aroma or smell.
Alternative forms[edit]
- savor (chiefly US)
Derived terms[edit]
- savoured (adjective) (savored)
- savourlessness (savorlessness)
- savourless (savorless)
- savourly (savorly)
- savoursome (savorsome)
- spendsavour (obsolete)
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle English savouren, savour (“to be tasty; to give flavour; to have flavour; to taste or enjoy the taste of (something); to be able to smell; to have a smell; to smell (something); to enjoy; to give pleasure; to know, understand; to learn; to have a spiritual experience”),[3] from Anglo-Norman savorer, savourer, Middle French savorer, savourer, and Old French savorer, savourer (“to give flavour; to have flavour; to be pleasant; to taste or enjoy the taste of (something); to enjoy; to know, perceive”) (modern French savourer), from Late Latin sapōrāre, the present active infinitive of sapōrō (“to give flavour, make tasty; to give pleasure”), from Latin sapor (“flavour; taste; scent; smell”) (see etymology 1)[4] + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).
Verb[edit]
savour (third-person singular simple present savours, present participle savouring, simple past and past participle savoured) (British spelling)
- (transitive)
- To detect (a flavour or taste, or food or drink); to taste; specifically, to enjoy or linger on (a flavour or taste, or food and drink); to relish.
- He closed his eyes so he could really savour his dessert.
- To give (food or drink) flavour; to flavour, 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)
- (archaic) To detect (an aroma or smell, especially an appealing one); to smell.
- (figurative)
- To enjoy (something) deeply or in a lingering manner; to appreciate, to delight in, to relish.
- 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.
- (chiefly in the negative) To find (something) appealing; to appreciate, to like.
- Synonym: care for
- (archaic) To possess (a particular, often negative, quality), especially a small amount of it; to be redolent or suggestive of (something).
- (obsolete) To be appealing to (a person, the senses, etc.).
- (obsolete) To experience, perceive, or understand (something).
- (obsolete) To give (something) a particular quality; to imbue with.
- (obsolete, rare) To give (something) an aroma or smell.
- (obsolete, rare) Followed by out: to detect or find (something).
- (obsolete, uncertain) To have a suspicion of (something).
- To enjoy (something) deeply or in a lingering manner; to appreciate, to delight in, to relish.
- To detect (a flavour or taste, or food or drink); to taste; specifically, to enjoy or linger on (a flavour or taste, or food and drink); to relish.
- (intransitive)
- (archaic) Of a thing: to give off a (specified) aroma or smell.
- (archaic or obsolete) Of food or drink: to have a specified (especially appealing) flavour or taste.
- (figurative)
- To possess a particular (often negative) quality, especially a small amount of it; to be redolent or suggestive of.
- 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.
- (archaic) Chiefly followed by a descriptive word like ill or well: to have a specified quality.
- To possess a particular (often negative) quality, especially a small amount of it; to be redolent or suggestive of.
- (obsolete)
Alternative forms[edit]
- savor (chiefly US)
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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References[edit]
- ^ “sāvǒur, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “savour | savor, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “savour, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “sāvǒuren, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “savour | savor, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2023; “savour, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading[edit]
- savor (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/eɪvə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/eɪvə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *seh₁p-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *-os
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *-s
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- 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 negative polarity items
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with rare senses
- English intransitive verbs
- 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