Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - sugar

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English sugre, sucre, from Anglo-French sucre, from Medieval Latin zuccarum, from Old Italian zucchero, from Arabic sukkar, from Persian shakar, ultimately from Sanskrit sarkara; akin to Sanskrit sarkara pebble — more at crocodile  Date: 14th century  1.  a. a sweet crystallizable material that consists wholly or essentially of sucrose, is colorless or white when pure tending to brown when less refined, is obtained commercially from ~cane or ~ beet and less extensively from sorghum, maples, and palms, and is important as a source of dietary carbohydrate and as a sweetener and preservative of other foods  b. any of various water-soluble compounds that vary widely in sweetness, include the monosaccharides and oligosaccharides, and typically are optically active  2. a unit (as a spoonful, cube, or lump) of ~  3. a ~ bowl  • ~less adjective  II. verb  (~ed; ~ing)  Date: 15th century  transitive verb  1. to make palatable or attractive ; sweeten a story ~ed with romance  2. to sprinkle or mix with ~  intransitive verb  1. to form or be converted into ~  2. to become granular ; granulate  3. to make maple syrup or maple ~