ambrite

[Fr. amire amber (?), and suff. -ite.] Min.: A mineral, cla ed by Dana under his Oxygenated Hydrocarbons. Compos.: Carbon 76-38; hydrogen 10.88; oxygen 12.70, and ash 19. It is yellowish-gray, sub-transparent, occurring in the province of Auckland, New Zealand, in ma es as large as the human heads. It is often exported with the resin (kauri-gum) of Dammar a Australis, which it much resembles. [KAURI.] ăm-brō-și-a, *ăm-bră-șie, *ăm'-broşe, 8. [In Dan., Ger., Sp., Port., & Ital. ambrosia; Fr. ambroisie , ambrosie; Dut. ambrosyn; Lat. ambrosia , all from Greek ἀμβροσία ( ambrosia ), from a, negative, and βροτός = mortal (1) the food or the drink of the gods; literally, immortal food; supposed to give immortality to all who partook of it; (2) a mixture of water, oil, and various fruits used in religious rites; (3) Med ., a perfumed draught or salve; (4) a plant ( Ambrosia maritima). In Sansc. amrit i is the elixir of immortality.] ( Liddell & Scott .) A. Ordinary Language: L. Lit. The fabled food of the gods, as nectar was the imagined drink. "And pour'd divine ambrosia in his breast, With nectar sweet (refection of the gods!)." Pope : Homer's Iliad , bk. xix., 375-6. gorgeous frescoes which represented the gods at their banquet of ambresia." - Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., ch. xxiv. IL Figuratively : 1. Whatever is very pleasant to the taste or the smell. "The coc coco, another excellent fruit, wherein we find better than the outside promised; yielding a quart of ambrosie, coloured like new white wine, but far more aromatick tasted."- Sir T. Herbert: Travels , p. 29. "Her golden lockes that late in tre es bright Embreaded were for hindring of her haste, Now loose about her shoulders hong undight, And were with sweet ambrosia all besprinckled light." Spenser: F. Q., III., vi. 18. 2. Certain alexipharmic compositions. 3. A fragrant plant; a wild sage. "At first ambrose it selfe was not sweeter, At last black hellebore was not so bitter." B. Technically: Burton : Anat. of Melan ., iii. 2 Botany: A genus of plants belonging to the order Asteraceae, or Composites. They are mostly annual weeds, of no beauty, which derive their name from the fact that when bruised they emit an agreeable smell. None are British; their habitat being Southern Europe, Africa, India, and North and South America.