/ˈaɪkɔː/, /-kə/, /ˈɪkə/
OriginSense 1 (“liquid said to flow in place of blood in the veins of the gods”) is borrowed from Medieval Latin ichor, from Ancient Greek ῑ̓χώρ (īkhṓr, “fluid running through the veins of gods, ichor; watery part of blood, lymph, serum; watery part of milk, whey; gravy; pus; naphtha”); further etymology unknown, probably from Pre-Greek.
Sense 2.4 (“fetid, watery discharge from a sore”) is from Middle English icor, icore [and other forms], from Medieval Latin ichor; see further above.
- Greek, countable, uncountableThe liquid said to flow in place of blood in the veins of the gods.
“This ſaid, ſhe wip’d from Venus’ wounded Palm / The ſacred Ichor, and infus’d the Balm.”
“With his protruded ſpear her gentle hand / He wounded, piercing through her thin attire / Ambroſial, by themſelves the Graces wrought, / Her inſide wriſt, faſt by her roſy palm. / Blood follow'd, but ”
“He [Saint Peter] potter'd with his keys at a great rate, / And sweated through his apostolic skin: / Of course his perspiration was but ichor, / Or some such other spiritual liquor.”
- broadly, countable, poetic, uncountableThe blood of human beings or animals; also (obsolete) the clear, fluid portion of blood; blood plasma, plasma.
“He had merely meant to express his feeling that the streams which ran through their veins were not yet purified by time to that perfection, had not become so genuine an ichor, as to be worthy of being”
- broadly, countable, figuratively, poetic, uncountableA blood-like fluid.
“[I]chores and thoſe ſerious matters being thickned become flegme, and flegme degenerates into choler, choler aduſt becomes æruginoſa melancholia, as vinegar out of the pureſt wine putrified or by exha”
“Go bring him [an ant] home to his people. / Lay him in state on a sepal. / Wrap him for shroud in a petal. / Embalm him with ichor of nettle.”
“They will not live / As shades but angle forward to enjoy / The pluck of life, the pressure of their ichor.”
- archaic, broadly, countable, uncountableA fluid believed to seep out from magma and cause rock to turn into granite.
- broadly, countable, obsolete, uncountableA fetid, watery discharge from a sore; pus.
Formsichors(plural)