/ˈniːɡəs/
OriginNamed from Colonel Francis Negus (died 1732), its creator.
- An English surname of unknown derivation.
- countable, uncountableA drink made of wine, often port, mixed with hot water, oranges or lemons, spices and sugar.
“And when he got home he had a glass of hot negus in his wife's sitting-room, and read the last number of the “Little Dorrit” of the day with great inward satisfaction.”
“Esther began […] to cry. But when the fire had been lit specially to warm her chilled limbs and Adela had plied her with hot negus she began to feel rather a heroine.”
“‘I could sure use a cup of negus and maybe some hot soup,’ he sniffs.”
- historicalA ruler of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), or of a province of Ethiopia; specifically, the king of Ethiopia before 1974.
“Sir, the Negus of Ethiopia is here in person; and this is the day of our death, doe what you can to saue your selfe, for my part I meane here to die”
“In the Abyssinian Language a King is call'd Negus. Their Monarch they stile Negus Negasta, which is as much as to say, King of Kings.”
“It was a Syrian merchant, Frumentius, who is credited with converting Ezana, the Negus (king or emperor) of the powerful northern Ethiopian state of Aksum.”
Formsneguses(plural)