supernaculum
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- adverb On the nail: used of drinking, with reference to the custom of turning the glass over the thumb to show that there was only a drop left small enough to rest on the nail: as, to drink supernaculum.
- noun Wine good enough to be worth drinking to the bottom; good liquor; hence, anything very fine or enjoyable.
Examples
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And the picture of the banquet "when they fell to the chat of the afternoon's collation and began great goblets to ring, great bowls to ting, great gammons to trot; pour me out the fair Greek wine, the extravagant wine, the good wine, Lacrima Christi, supernaculum!"
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With agony he had observed that supernaculum was his miserable lot.
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"Look at this precious phial, the incomparable elixir, the pabulum of life, the grand arcanum, the supernaculum, the mother and regenerator of nature, the source and the womb of all existence, past, present, and to come!"
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To drink _supernaculum_ is to empty the cup so thoroughly that the last drop or "pearl," drained on to the nail, retains its shape, and does not run.
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The custom of drinking _supernaculum_, consisted in turning down the cup upon the thumb-nail of the drinker after his pledge, when, if duly quaffed off, no drop of liquor ought to appear upon his nail.
The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 06
Note
The word 'supernaculum' is a humorous Latinization, possibly on the model of the German phrase 'auf den Nagel trinken' (meaning to drink to the last drop).
