Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;/ Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"/Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."
-- Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven
For a man in whom love had always inspired delay, that nepenthe could not inspire decision.[ni-pen-thee]
-- Umberto Eco, William Weaver, The Island of the Day Before
–noun
1.
a drug or drink, or the plant yielding it, mentioned by ancient writers as having the power to bring forgetfulness of sorrow or trouble.
2.
anything inducing a pleasurable sensation of forgetfulness, esp. of sorrow or trouble.
Origin:
1590–1600; < L nēpenthes < Gk nēpenthés herb for soothing, n. use of neut. of nēpenthḗs sorrowless, equiv. to nē- not + pénth ( os ) sorrow + -ēs adj. suffix
1590–1600; < L nēpenthes < Gk nēpenthés herb for soothing, n. use of neut. of nēpenthḗs sorrowless, equiv. to nē- not + pénth ( os ) sorrow + -ēs adj. suffix
—Related forms
ne·pen·the·an, adjective
