negus meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

negus

noun

/ˈniːɡəs/

Etymology Named from Colonel Francis Negus (died 1732), its creator.

A 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.1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers. […], copyright edition, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1859, →OCLC, page 219:
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.1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, chapter VII, in A House is Built, section VI:

1 more example

‘I could sure use a cup of negus and maybe some hot soup,’ he sniffs.1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 258:

negus

noun

Etymology 1590s, borrowed from Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king, ruler”), itself a loan from Ge'ez ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king, ruler”), from the verb ነግሠ (nägśä, “rule”).

Historical A 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 die1614 Samuel Purchas, Purchas his pilgrimes. part 2 In fiue bookes, Chap. V. The Voyage of Sir FRANCIS ALVAREZ, a Portugall Priest, made vnto the Court of PRETE IANNI, the great Christian Emperour of Ethiopia, §. XVII. (p. 1102)
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.1739, John Campbell, The Travels and Adventures of Edward Brown, page 292:

1 more example

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.2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 240: