nectarine
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnɛk.tə.ɹiːn/
Forms: form: nectarines
Etymology: From nectar + -ine.
Senses: examples: text: 1670, John Evelyn, Sylva, or, A Discourse of Forest-Trees to which is annexed Pomona, or, An appendix concerning Fruit-Trees in Relation to Cider, London: Jo. Martyn & Ja. Allestry, “Kalendarium Hortense,” p. 10,
Prune Fruit-trees, and Vines as yet; For now is your Season to bind, plash, naile, and dresse, without danger of Frost: This to be understood of the most tender and delicate Wall-fruit, not finished before; do this before the buds and bearers grow turgid; and yet in the Nectarine and like delicate Mural-fruit, the later your Pruning, the better, whatever has been, and still is, the contrary custom.
text: 1681, Andrew Marvell, “The Garden,” stanza 5, in Miscellaneous Poems, London: Nonesuch, 1923, pp. 49-50,
What wond’rous Life in this I lead!
Ripe Apples drop about my head;
The Luscious Clusters of the Vine
Upon my Mouth do crush their Wine;
The Nectaren, and curious Peach,
Into my hands themselves do reach;
Stumbling on Melons, as I pass,
Insnar’d with Flow’rs, I fall on Grass.
text: Guava’s, a Fruit as large as a Pipin, with Seeds and Stones in it, of an uncouth aſtringing Taſt, tho’ never ſo much be ſaid in Commendation of it, at the West-Indies, it is common for Cræolians, (who has taſted both,) to give it a Preference to Peach or Nectarine, no amazing Thing when Men whose Taſts are ſo degenerated, as to prefer a Toad in a Shell, (as Ward calls Turtle,) to Venison […]
ref: 1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Captain Howel Davis, and His Crew”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, page 199:
text: 1742, Samuel Richardson, Pamela, London: S. Richardson, 4th edition, Volume 3, Letter 12, p. 53,
So that reading constantly, and thus using yourself to write, and enjoying besides the Benefit of a good Memory, every thing you heard or read, became your own; and not only so, but was improved by passing thro’ more salubrious Ducts and Vehicles; like some fine Fruit grafted upon a common Free-stock, whose more exuberant Juices serve to bring to quicker and greater Perfection the downy Peach, or the smooth Nectarine with its crimson Blush.
text: When you see a dish of fruit at dessert, you sometimes set your affections upon one particular peach or nectarine, watch it with some anxiety as it comes round the table, and feel quite a sensible disappointment when it is taken by some one else.
ref: 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:
glosses: A cultivar of the peach with smooth rather than fuzzy skin.
examples: 1628 Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Henry Cripps, 3rd edition, Part 3, Section 2, Member 5, Subsection 3, p. 509,
He would have some discreet men to disswade them, after the fury of passion is a little spent, or by absence allaied; for it is intempestive at first, to give counsell, as it is, to comfort parents when their children are in that instant departed; to no purpose to prescribe Narcoticks, Cordialls, Nectarines, potions, […]
glosses: A nectar-like liquid medicine.
Synonyms: brunion
Derived terms: nectaplum
Spanish nectarine