nectar [M16th] In Greek and Roman mythology nectar was the drink of the gods. Today you might sometimes hear a delicious drink being described as nectar [M16th], and in America it is the usual term for a thick fruit drink [M20th]. The word took on its usual modern meaning ‘a sugary fluid secreted in flowers’ in the early 17th century. Nectarine [E17th], now the name of a smooth-skinned kind of peach, was originally an adjective meaning ‘like nectar’.