flavor

[fley-ver] /ˈfleɪ vər/
noun
1.
taste, especially the distinctive taste of something as it is experienced in the mouth.
2.
a substance or extract that provides a particular taste; flavoring.
3.
the characteristic quality of a thing:
He captured the flavor of the experience in his book.
4.
a particular quality noticeable in a thing:
language with a strong nautical flavor.
5.
Physics. any of the six labels given to the distinct kinds of quark: up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top.
6.
Archaic. smell, odor, or aroma.
verb (used with object)
7.
to give flavor to (something).
Also, especially British, flavour.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English < Middle French fla(o)ur < Late Latin *flātor stench, breath, alteration of Latin flātus a blowing, breathing, (see flatus), perhaps with -or of fētor fetor
Related forms
flavorless, adjective
deflavor, verb (used with object)
overflavor, verb
preflavor, noun, verb (used with object)
unflavored, adjective
well-flavored, adjective
Synonyms
1. See taste. 2. seasoning. 3. essence, spirit.
Examples from the web for flavor
  • It is a basic white sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg- you can add cheeses for more flavor.
  • Canned beets may be used in place of fresh ones, and bottled horseradish if of strong flavor and well drained.
  • Melt fondant over hot water, and color and flavor as desired.
  • Roasting and broiling, which develop so fine a flavor, can only be applied to the more expensive cuts.
  • Coffee made with an egg has a rich flavor which egg alone can give.
  • It may be defined as a realistic folk tale, not bookish in its flavor, but with the simple shrewdness of the plain people.
  • It has the effervescence, though not the body or the flavor.
  • The honey was delicious, sweet and yet with a tart flavor.
  • Turtles and turtle eggs can be had in season and a great variety of birds, some of them delicious in flavor and heavy in meat.
  • Extremism of any flavor leads to atrocities such as this and is abhorrent.
British Dictionary definitions for flavor

flavour

/ˈfleɪvə/
noun
1.
taste perceived in food or liquid in the mouth
2.
a substance added to food, etc, to impart a specific taste
3.
a distinctive quality or atmosphere; suggestion: a poem with a Shakespearean flavour
4.
a type or variety: various flavours of graphical interface
5.
(physics) a property of quarks that enables them to be differentiated into six types: up, down, strange, charm, bottom (or beauty), and top (or truth)
6.
flavour of the month, a person or thing that is the most popular at a certain time
verb
7.
(transitive) to impart a flavour, taste, or quality to
Derived Forms
flavourer, (US) flavorer, noun
flavourless, (US) flavorless, adjective
flavoursome, (US) flavorsome, adjective
Word Origin
C14: from Old French flaour, from Late Latin flātor (unattested) bad smell, breath, from Latin flāre to blow
Word Origin and History for flavor
n.

c.1300, "a smell, odor" (usually a pleasing one), from Old French flaour "smell, odor," from Vulgar Latin flator "odor," literally "that which blows," from Latin flator "blower," from flare "to blow, puff," which is cognate with Old English blawan (see blow (v.1)).

The same Vulgar Latin source produced Old Italian fiatore "a bad odor." Sense of "taste, savor" is 1690s, perhaps 1670s; originally "the element in taste which depends on the sense of smell." The -v- is perhaps from influence of savor.

v.

1730s, from flavor (n.). Related: Flavored; flavoring.

flavor in Science
flavor
  (flā'vər)   
Any of six classifications of quark varieties, distinguished by mass and electric charge. The flavors have the names up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom. Protons in atomic nuclei are composed of two up quarks and one down quark, while neutrons consist of one up quark and two down quarks. The flavor of a quark may be changed in interactions involving the weak force.
Slang definitions & phrases for flavor

flavor

adjective

: That's a very flava lady

noun

A sexually attractive woman (1960s+ Black)


flavor in Technology

spelling
US spelling of "flavour".
[Jargon File]
(1997-03-18)

Encyclopedia Article for flavor

in particle physics, property that distinguishes different members in the two groups of basic building blocks of matter, the quarks and the leptons. There are six flavours of subatomic particle within each of these two groups: six leptons (the electron, the muon, the tau, the electron-neutrino, the muon-neutrino, and the tau-neutrino), and six quarks (designated up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom).

Learn more about flavor with a free trial on Britannica.com