negus
1 Americannoun
plural
neguses-
a title of Ethiopian royalty.
-
(initial capital letter) the Emperor of Ethiopia.
noun
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of negus1
1585–95; < Amharic nəgus king < Geez, participle of nägŝä to reign
Origin of negus2
1735–45; after Colonel Francis Negus (died 1732), Englishman who invented it
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Oh, it is no trouble; I dare say your own hands are almost numbed with cold. Leah, make a little hot negus and cut a sandwich or two: here are the keys of the storeroom.”
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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What people drink at such times comes to nothing,—just a little negus and lemonade.
From Rachel Ray by Trollope, Anthony
If you were not dancing you ought to be playing cards, making love, drinking negus, or exchanging good stories with some motherly, fat, old lady, too heavy for a reel, too stupid for loo.
From Jack Hinton The Guardsman by Lever, Charles James
Ellis declined the negus, but, rejoicing in any safe and honest protection, entreated that Mr Tedman would have the goodness to order one of his servants to see her home.
From The Wanderer (Volume 2 of 5) or, Female Difficulties by Burney, Fanny
Old Miss Macan upset my markers, drank my negus, and then fainted off herself, with a face like an apothecary's rose.'
From Jack Hinton The Guardsman by Lever, Charles James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.