Sweet
Sweet , adjective
[Old English swete, swote, sote, Anglo-Saxon swēte; akin to OFries. swēte, Old Saxon swōti, Dutch zoet, German suss, Old High German suozi, Icelandic saetr, soetr, Swedish sot, Danish sod, Gothic suts, Latin suavis, for suadvis, Greek {not transcribed}, Sanskrit svādu sweet, svad, svād, to sweeten. r175. Compare Assuage, Suave, Suasion.]
1.
Having an agreeable taste or flavor such as that of sugar; saccharine; -- opposed to sour and bitter; as, a sweet beverage; sweet fruits; sweet oranges.
2.
Pleasing to the smell; fragrant; redolent; balmy; as, a sweet rose; sweet odor; sweet incense.
The breath of these flowers is sweet to me.
3.
Pleasing to the ear; soft; melodious; harmonious; as, the sweet notes of a flute or an organ; sweet music; a sweet voice; a sweet singer.
To make his English sweet upon his tongue.
A voice sweet, tremulous, but powerful.
4.
Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair; as, a sweet face; a sweet color or complexion.
Sweet interchange
Of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains.
5.
Fresh; not salt or brackish; as, sweet water. — Bacon
6.
Not changed from a sound or wholesome state. Specifically: (a) Not sour; as, sweet milk or bread. (b) Not state; not putrescent or putrid; not rancid; as, sweet butter; sweet meat or fish.
7.
Pleasing to the mind; mild; gentle; calm; amiable; winning; persuasive; as, sweet manners.
Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades?
Mildness and sweet reasonableness is the one established rule of Christian working.
Sweet is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, sweet-blossomed, sweet-featured, sweet-smelling, sweet-tempered, sweet-toned, etc.
Collocations (32)
Sweet bay (Botany) , (a) The laurel (Laurus nobilis). (b) Swamp sassafras.
Sweet calabash (Botany) , a plant of the genus Passiflora (Passiflora maliformis) growing in the West Indies, and producing a roundish, edible fruit, the size of an apple.
Sweet cicely (Botany) , (a) Either of the North American plants of the umbelliferous genus Osmorrhiza having aromatic roots and seeds, and white flowers. — Gray (b) A plant of the genus Myrrhis (Myrrhis odorata) growing in England.
Sweet calamus or Sweet cane (Botany) , Same as Sweet flag, below.
Sweet Cistus (Botany) , an evergreen shrub (Cistus Ladanum) from which the gum ladanum is obtained.
Sweet coltsfoot (Botany) , a kind of butterbur (Petasites sagittata) found in Western North America.
Sweet fern (Botany) , a small North American shrub (Comptonia asplenifolia syn. Myrica asplenifolia) having sweet-scented or aromatic leaves resembling fern leaves.
Sweet flag (Botany) , an endogenous plant (Acorus Calamus) having long flaglike leaves and a rootstock of a pungent aromatic taste. It is found in wet places in Europe and America. See Calamus, 2.
Sweet gale (Botany) , a shrub (Myrica Gale) having bitter fragrant leaves; -- also called sweet willow, and Dutch myrtle. See 5th Gale.
Sweet grass (Botany) , holy, or Seneca, grass.
Sweet herbs , fragrant herbs cultivated for culinary purposes.
Sweet John (Botany) , a variety of the sweet William.
Sweet marten (Zoology) , the pine marten.
Sweet maudlin (Botany) , a composite plant (Achillea Ageratum) allied to milfoil.
Sweet oil , olive oil.
Sweet rush (Botany) , sweet flag.
Sweet sultan (Botany) , an annual composite plant (Centaurea moschata), also, the yellow-flowered (Centaurea odorata); -- called also sultan flower.
Sweet tooth , an especial fondness for sweet things or for sweetmeats. [Colloquial]
Sweet William (Botany) , A species of pink (Dianthus barbatus) of many varieties. The willow warbler. The European goldfinch; -- called also sweet Billy. [Provincial English]
Sweet willow (Botany) , sweet gale.
Sweet wine , See Dry wine, under Dry.
To be sweet on , to have a particular fondness for, or special interest in, as a young man for a young woman. [Colloquial] — Thackeray
Sweet , noun
1.
That which is sweet to the taste; -- used chiefly in the plural.
(a)
Confectionery, sweetmeats, preserves, etc.
(b)
Home-made wines, cordials, metheglin, etc.
2.
That which is sweet or pleasant in odor; a perfume.
A wilderness of sweets.
3.
That which is pleasing or grateful to the mind; as, the sweets of domestic life.
A little bitter mingled in our cup leaves no relish of the sweet.
4.
One who is dear to another; a darling; -- a term of endearment.
Wherefore frowns my sweet?
Sweet , adverb
Sweetly. — Shakespeare
Sweet , transitive verb
To sweeten. [Obsolete] — Udall