savour

 
Pronunciation: /ˈseɪvə/
(US savor)

verb

  • 1 [with object] taste (good food or drink) and enjoy it to the full: gourmets will want to savour our game specialities
  • enjoy or appreciate (something pleasant) to the full, especially by lingering over it: I wanted to savour every moment
  • 2 [no object] (savour of) have a suggestion or trace of (a quality or attribute, typically one considered bad): their genuflections savoured of superstition and popery

noun

[mass noun]
  • a characteristic taste, flavour, or smell, especially a pleasant one: the subtle savour of wood smoke
  • a suggestion or trace, typically of something bad.

Derivatives

savourless

adjective

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French, from Latin sapor, from sapere 'to taste'

Spelling help

Remember that savour and the related word savoury are spelled with -our (the spellings savor and savory are American).