attar

plural attars · alternative atar · alternative athar · alternative ittar · alternative ottar · alternative otter · alternative otto · alternative âta

1. countableuncountableAn essential oil extracted from flowers.

   Now, when orange-flowers are distilled with water, we procure the otto of the blossom, which is known commercially as oil of neroli.

   1857, G[eorge] W[illiam] Septimus Piesse, “Section III”, in The Art of Perfumery, and Method of Obtaining the Odors of Plants, […], Philadelphia, Pa.: Lindsay and Blackiston, →OCLC, page 78

   1 more example

   I bequeath to you my literary work. Useless though these might be commercially, they are the attar-drops distilled from the long and futile ebullience of my life.

   1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VIII, in Capricornia, page 125

2. countableuncountableA perfume made from this oil.

plural Attars

1. A surname.