confectionary

From Late Latin cōnfectiōnārius (“one who prepares things by means of ingredients”), from Latin cōnfectiō (“preparing, producing”). See confection.

confectionary (not comparable)

1. Relating to, or of the nature of confections or their production.

   confectionary wares

2. Prepared as a confection.
   • 1798, William Cowper, On Receipt of My Mother's Picture‎, line 60:

     Thy morning bounties ere I left my home, / The biscuit, or confectionary plum;

confectionary (countable and uncountable, plural confectionaries)

1. A candy, sweetmeat; a confection.
   • 1787, Miss Tully, “February 10, 1787”, in Letters Written During a Ten Years' Residence at the Court of Tripoli‎, published 1819, page 285:

     After the dishes of meat were removed, a dessert of Arabian fruits, confectionaries and sweetmeats was served: among the latter was the date bread.

2. (obsolete) A place where confections are manufactured, stored; a confectory.
3. Dated form of confectionery (“a confectioner's shop”).
   • 1986, Penny Hayes, The Long Trail‎, →ISBN, page 184:

     They stopped at a confectionary where Blanche experienced her first ice cream.

4. (obsolete) One who makes confections; a confectioner.

   He will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks. -- 1 Samuel viii. 13.

5. (uncountable) Archaic form of confectionery (“candy, sweets, taken collectively”).
   • 1827, Margaret Dods [pseudonym; Christian Isobel Johnstone], The Cook and Housewife’s Manual; Containing the Most Approved Modern Receipts for Making Soups, Gravies, Sauces, Ragouts, and All Made-Dishes; . The Second Edition; , Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, and Bell and Bradfute; Geo. B. Whittaker, London; and Robertson and Atkinson, Glasgow, page 11:

     Maigre Dishes, dishes used by Roman Catholics on the days when the Church forbids flesh-meats; comprehending fish and vegetable pies and soups, puddings, fruit-pies, egg-dishes, omelets, fritters, macaroni, all preparations of fish, cheese-dishes, fish-sausages, and all creams, jellies, and confectionary, also dressed vegetables, pickles, and preserves.

• confect
• confection
• confectionery
• confectioner

• “confectionary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.