libation

English

A ritual libation

From Latin lībātiō, from lībāre (“to take a little from anything, to taste, to pour out as an offering”).

libation (countable and uncountable, plural libations)

The act of pouring a liquid, most often wine, in sacrifice on the ground, on a ritual object, or on a victim, in honor of some deity.
Synonyms: tip, tipping
- 1755, Callimachus, “The First Hymn of Callimachus. To Jupiter.”, in William Dodd, transl., The Hymns of Callimachus, […], London: […] The translator [William Dodd], […], →OCLC, page 1:
  While we to Jove the pure libations pay,
  Than Jove what apter claims the hallow'd lay?
The wine or liquid thus poured out.
(often humorous) A beverage, especially an alcoholic one.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:alcoholic beverage
- 1997, David Foster Wallace, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again”, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Kindle edition, Little, Brown Book Group:
  […] watching you, the waiters, not quite making eye-contact but scanning for any little way to be of service, plus plum-jacketed sommeliers walking around to see if you need a non-buffet libation…
- 2007 November, Elizabeth Drake, “Combine and conquer: Use these winning food pairings to protect your health”, in Men's Health, volume 22, number 9, →ISSN, page 126:
  What's more, Swedish researchers found that the fat and fiber in nuts slow the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream. This can help smooth out the effects of moderate alcohol consumption. For best results, try to eat about 15 minutes before taking your first libation.

act of pouring a liquid as a sacrifice

Afrikaans: drankoffer
Albanian: pije alkoolike
Belarusian: паліва́ньне n (palivánʹnje)
Bengali: তর্পণ (bn) (torpon)
Catalan: libació (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 奠 (zh) (diàn), 奠酒 (zh) (diànjiǔ), 獻酒 / 献酒 (xiànjiǔ), 奠祭 (zh) (diànjì)
Czech: úlitba (cs) f
Danish: drikoffer
Dutch: plengoffer n
Estonian: jook ohver
Finnish: juomauhri
French: libation (fr) f
German: Trankopfer (de) n, Libation (de) f
Greek: σπονδή (el) f (spondí)
Ancient: (for the gods) σπονδή f (spondḗ), λοιβήή f (loibḗḗ); (for the dead) χοή f (khoḗ)
Gujarati: મદ્ય (madya)
Hebrew: נסך (he)
Hindi: मदिरा (hi) (madirā)
Hungarian: italáldozat (hu), boráldozat
Italian: libagione (it) f, libamento m (rare)
Japanese: 献酒 (けんしゅ, kenshu), 神酒 (ja) (みき, miki, しんしゅ, shinshu)
Kannada: ಮದ್ಯಪಾನ (kn) (madyapāna)
Korean: 신주(神酒) (ko) (sinju), 헌주(獻酒) (heonju)
Latin: libatio f
Latvian: iedzeršana
Norwegian: drikkofferet
Persian: نثار (fa) (nesâr), زور (fa) (zowr), زوهر (zuhr)
Polish: libacja (pl)
Portuguese: libação (pt) f
Russian: возлия́ние (ru) n (vozlijánije), либа́ция f (libácija)
Scottish Gaelic: deoch-ìobairt f
Spanish: libación (es) f
Swedish: dryckesoffer (sv), libation (sv) c
Thai: การ ดื่ม สุรา (gaan dèum sùraa)
Turkish: libasyon
Vietnamese: sự rảy ra

liquid poured out

alcoholic beverage

libation f (plural libations)