Fwd: "nidor, n." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Subject: "nidor, n." - Word of the Day from the OED
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OED Online Word of the Day
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Your word for today is: nidor, n.

nidor, n.
[‘ The smell given off by animal substances, esp. of a fatty or greasy
nature, when cooked or burnt. Also: any strong or unpleasant odour, vapour,
etc.’]
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈnʌɪːdə/, /ˈnʌɪdɔː/,  U.S. /ˈnaɪˌdɔ(ə)r/, /ˈnaɪdər/
Inflections:  Plural  unchanged, (occas.) nidors.
Forms:  16 nidour,   16– nidor.
Etymology: <  classical Latin nīdor a rich strong smell (from food or
things burnt), fumes, cognate with ancient Greek κνῖσα, and Icelandic hniss
(17th cent.). Compare Middle French, French †nideur (1597).
  The smell given off by animal substances, esp. of a fatty or greasy
nature, when cooked or burnt. Also: any strong or unpleasant odour, vapour,
etc.
a1620  M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) i. xi. §4. 116 Who maketh..his
Caldron, his Sensor; his Nidor, his Incense; his Table, his Altar.
1662  H. Stubbe Indian Nectar iii. 29, I had my smell affected with such a
nidor, as issues from fat, when broiled.
1678  R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 810 That Evil Demons
or Devils, were..delighted with the Blood and Nidours of Sacrifices.
1707  J. Floyer Physician's Pulse-watch 264 In the Nidor of the Stomach
there are hot Winds.
1746  R. James in Moffett & Bennet's Health's Improvem. (new ed.) Introd.
43 A Nidor, or Stink, peculiar to Animal Substances in a State of
Putrefaction.
1811  S. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 203/2 No living nostril has scented the nidor
of a human creature roasted for faith.
1851 Harper's Mag. Jan. 163/2 He might have been tempted to express his
homage through the Pagan fashion of raising altars and burning
incense..provided always that the nidor were irreproachable.
1923 Blackwood's Mag. Feb. 159/2 A nidor was to him an agony impossible to
endure.
1994 Sunday Times (Nexis) 3 July, The corporeal must of dead thoughts and
forgotten words..the nidor of tatty jackets and grubbily thumbed flies.
1997  T. Pynchon Mason & Dixon liii. 514 With the black nidor of the
Torches for her first Incense.

http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/126864

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