in heathen antiquity, denotes the solid food of the gods, in contradistinction from the drink, which was called nectar. It had the appellation ambrosia, as being supposed to render those immortal who fed thereon.

is also a term for rough or crude wax, supposed to be the food of bees.

in Grecian antiquity, a name sometimes used for a festival of Bacchus, otherwise called lenae. See LENEA.

in botany, a genus of the monoeia pentandra clasps. The male floccules of the ambrosia have no petals; the fruit of the female is prickly, and shaped like a club, containing one oblong seed in each. There are four species of ambrosia, viz., the trifida, elatior, and the artemisia folia, all natives of America; and the maritima, a native of Greece.