nectar

What it means

1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe drink of the gods.First known use 16th c.

   They pourd in soveraine balme and Nectar good, / Good both for erthly med'cine and for hevenly food.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

2. broadlycountableuncountableAny delicious drink, now especially a type of sweetened fruit juice.First known use 16th c.
3. countableuncountablebiologyThe sweet liquid secreted by flowers to attract pollinating insects and birds.First known use 17th c.

In a sentence

They pourd in soveraine balme and Nectar good, / Good both for erthly med'cine and for hevenly food.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*neḱ-“perish, disappear”
2. Ancient Greekνέκταρ“nourishment of the gods”
3. Latinnectar
4. Englishnectar

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar, “nourishment of the gods”), from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”) + *-tr̥h₂ (“overcoming”), from *terh₂- (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”).

First known use: 16th c.