Word of the Day: neroli

neroli (n)

An essential oil distilled from the flowers of the orange.

"Add 3 to 4 drops of neroli essential oil to 1/2 cup safflower, sweet almond, grapeseed, or sunflower oil. Use this on your scalp for a tantalizing scent before a date. During a date, you can use this same oil as a stimulating massage oil."
--Stephanie Rose Bird, Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo & Conjuring with Herbs

That would be some date!

Not sure why Wallace circled this word in his dictionary. Probably he just liked the sound of it -- and maybe he also knew that neroli oil is used in aromatherapy as an antidepressant, which is something he definitely needed. It's also said to be a hypnotic, aphrodisiac and a euphoric -- sort of a citrus ecstasy.

(Neroli is one of the words that the late David Foster Wallace circled in his dictionary.)