Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A beverage of wine, hot water, lemon juice, sugar, and nutmeg.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A mild warm punch of wine (properly port), made with a little lemon and not much sugar.
  • noun The title of the kings of Abyssinia.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A beverage made of wine, water, sugar, nutmeg, and lemon juice; -- so called, it is said, from its first maker, Colonel Negus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A drink of wine, lemon, sugar, nutmeg and hot water.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun wine and hot water with sugar and lemon juice and nutmeg

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Francis Negus, (died 1732), English army officer.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named from Colonel Francis Negus (died 1732), its creator.

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Examples

  • It was intended for that sort of negus which is offered at Christmas parties and of which ladies and children may partake with refreshment and cheerfulness.

    The Kickleburys on the Rhine 2006

  • I think people would be surprised to find how excellent a beverage the obsolete "negus" is.

    The Days Before Yesterday Frederick Spencer Hamilton 1892

  • Abyssinia, where the "negus" or king, known by the name of Prester

    Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part I. The Exploration of the World Jules Verne 1866

  • It was intended for that sort of negus which is offered at Christmas parties and of which ladies and children may partake with refreshment and cheerfulness.

    The Christmas Books of Mr. M.A. Titmarsh William Makepeace Thackeray 1837

  • Chatterly, and reclined on his chair, sipping his negus with the self-satisfied smile of one, who, by a pretty speech, has rid himself of a troublesome commission.

    Saint Ronan's Well 2008

  • When the cloth was removed, and we had each made a tumbler of negus, of that liquor which hosts call Sherry, and guests call Lisbon, I perceived that the stranger seemed pensive, silent, and somewhat embarrassed, as if he had something to communicate which he knew not well how to introduce.

    The Monastery 2008

  • Our table is in the corner here, where the gentlemen can have their wineglass of negus, and their egg-sandwich, and their quiet game at beggar-my-neighbour, and look on.

    A Holiday Romance 2007

  • Mr Feeder, after imbibing several custard – cups of negus, began to enjoy himself.

    Dombey and Son 2007

  • The two young men ordered a broiled bone, Madeira negus, and a pack of cards, and commenced a game at picquet.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian 2007

  • Our table is in the corner here, where the gentlemen can have their wineglass of negus, and their egg-sandwich, and their quiet game at beggar-my-neighbour, and look on.

    A Holiday Romance 2007

Comments

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  • Named from Colonel Francis Negus (d. 1732), its creator.

    November 3, 2007

  • also ethiopian word for emperor

    January 14, 2008

  • "By simple chance, they stumbled upon William's tent first, and he invited Balcarres to join him in a glass of negus before bed."

    —Diana Gabaldon, An Echo in the Bone (New York: Delacorte Press, 2009), 471

    December 17, 2009

  • "There was no reply to his question, however, and he went back to reading, occasionally pausing to sip the hot negus that had gone lukewarm as he worked."

    The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch, p 3

    December 13, 2011