nidor

English

Etymology

From Latin nidor.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnʌɪdə/, /ˈnʌɪdɔː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪdəɹ/

Noun

nidor (countable and uncountable, plural nidors)

1. The smell of burning animals, especially of burning animal fat.
   • 1681, Henry Hallywell, Melampronoea:

     the material Demons do strangely gluttonize upon the Nidours and Bloud of Sacrifices

   • 1743, Thomas Stackhouse, A Compleat Body of Speculative and Practical Divinity, edition 3 (London), page 524:

     The First-fruits were a common Oblation to their Deities; but the chief Part of their Worship consisted in sacrificiing Animals : And this they did out of a real Persuasion, that their Gods were pleased with their Blood, and were nourished with the Smoke, and Nidor of them; and therefore the more costly, they thought them the more acceptable, for which Reason, they stuck not sometimes to regale them with human Sacrifices.

   • 1896, Daniel Waterland, A Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist, page 623:

     Elsewhere to blood, smoke, and nidor, he opposes purity of thought, sincerity of affection, […]

   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:

     The smell, at some times of year sensible for Miles, of Sheep, and wool-fat, and that queasy Nidor of Lambs baking in ovens meant for bread […]

2. (nonstandard) Any smell.
   • 2007, Samuel F. Pickering, Autumn spring, page 28:

     For her part Vicki smells little, not even the nidor of antifreeze at the stock car races at Lake Doucette.

   • 2008, Edgar Wallace, Devil Man, page 9:

     The long, yellow face was framed in side whiskers; there hung about him the nidor of stale cigar smoke.

Anagrams

• dinor

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *knīdōs, from Proto-Indo-European *knīdos-. It has been speculated that the word is cognate with Homeric Ancient Greek κνίση (knísē, “smell of roasting fat”) and Attic κνῖσα (knîsa), but Beekes finds this phonetically unlikely. Likewise for κνίζω (knízō, “I pound, scratch, chop”) and κνίδη (knídē, “nettle”) through an earlier dual sense of smelling and scratching.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈniː.dor/, [ˈniːd̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈni.dor/, [ˈniːd̪or]

Noun

nīdor m (genitive nīdōris); third declension

1. the steam or smell from roasting, burning or boiling (especially animals)

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	nīdor	nīdōrēs
genitive	nīdōris	nīdōrum
dative	nīdōrī	nīdōribus
accusative	nīdōrem	nīdōrēs
ablative	nīdōre	nīdōribus
vocative	nīdor	nīdōrēs

Descendants

• English: nidor
• Italian: nidore
• Portuguese: nidor

References

• “nidor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nidor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nidor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.