'Sweet bay' definitions:
Definition of 'sweet bay'
(from WordNet)
noun
Shrub or small tree having rather small fragrant white flowers; abundant in southeastern United States [syn: sweet bay, swamp bay, swamp laurel, Magnolia virginiana]
Definition of 'Sweet bay'
From: GCIDE
- Sweet \Sweet\, a. [Compar. Sweeter; superl. Sweetest.] [OE. swete, swote, sote, AS. sw[=e]te; akin to OFries. sw[=e]te, OS. sw[=o]ti, D. zoet, G. s["u]ss, OHG. suozi, Icel. saetr, soetr, Sw. s["o]t, Dan. s["o]d, Goth. suts, L. suavis, for suadvis, Gr. ?, Skr. sv[=a]du sweet, svad, sv[=a]d, to sweeten. [root]175. Cf. 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. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Pleasing to the smell; fragrant; redolent; balmy; as, a sweet rose; sweet odor; sweet incense. [1913 Webster]
- The breath of these flowers is sweet to me. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- To make his English sweet upon his tongue. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- A voice sweet, tremulous, but powerful. --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair; as, a sweet face; a sweet color or complexion. [1913 Webster]
- Sweet interchange Of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 5. Fresh; not salt or brackish; as, sweet water. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 7. Plaesing to the mind; mild; gentle; calm; amiable; winning; presuasive; as, sweet manners. [1913 Webster]
- Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades? --Job xxxviii. 31. [1913 Webster]
- Mildness and sweet reasonableness is the one established rule of Christian working. --M. Arnold. [1913 Webster]
- Note: Sweet is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, sweet-blossomed, sweet-featured, sweet-smelling, sweet-tempered, sweet-toned, etc. [1913 Webster]
- Sweet alyssum. (Bot.) See Alyssum.
- Sweet apple. (Bot.) (a) Any apple of sweet flavor. (b) See Sweet-sop.
- Sweet bay. (Bot.) (a) The laurel (Laurus nobilis). (b) Swamp sassafras.
- Sweet calabash (Bot.), 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. (Bot.) (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. (Bot.) Same as {Sweet flag}, below.
- Sweet Cistus (Bot.), an evergreen shrub (Cistus Ladanum) from which the gum ladanum is obtained.
- Sweet clover. (Bot.) See Melilot.
- Sweet coltsfoot (Bot.), a kind of butterbur ({Petasites sagittata}) found in Western North America.
- Sweet corn (Bot.), a variety of the maize of a sweet taste. See the Note under Corn.
- Sweet fern (Bot.), a small North American shrub ({Comptonia asplenifolia} syn. Myrica asplenifolia) having sweet-scented or aromatic leaves resembling fern leaves.
- Sweet flag (Bot.), 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 (Bot.), a shrub (Myrica Gale) having bitter fragrant leaves; -- also called sweet willow, and {Dutch myrtle}. See 5th Gale.
- Sweet grass (Bot.), holy, or Seneca, grass.
- Sweet gum (Bot.), an American tree ({Liquidambar styraciflua}). See Liquidambar.
- Sweet herbs, fragrant herbs cultivated for culinary purposes.
- Sweet John (Bot.), a variety of the sweet William.
- Sweet leaf (Bot.), horse sugar. See under Horse.
- Sweet marjoram. (Bot.) See Marjoram.
- Sweet marten (Zool.), the pine marten.
- Sweet maudlin (Bot.), a composite plant ({Achillea Ageratum}) allied to milfoil.
- Sweet oil, olive oil.
- Sweet pea. (Bot.) See under Pea.
- Sweet potato. (Bot.) See under Potato.
- Sweet rush (Bot.), sweet flag.
- Sweet spirits of niter (Med. Chem.) See {Spirit of nitrous ether}, under Spirit.
- Sweet sultan (Bot.), 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. [Colloq.]
- Sweet William. (a) (Bot.) A species of pink (Dianthus barbatus) of many varieties. (b) (Zool.) The willow warbler. (c) (Zool.) The European goldfinch; -- called also {sweet Billy}. [Prov. Eng.]
- Sweet willow (Bot.), 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. [Colloq.] --Thackeray. [1913 Webster]
- Syn: Sugary; saccharine; dulcet; luscious. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'sweet bay'
From: GCIDE
- Swamp \Swamp\, n. [Cf. AS. swam a fungus, OD. swam a sponge, D. zwam a fungus, G. schwamm a sponge, Icel. sv["o]ppr, Dan. & Sw. swamp, Goth. swamms, Gr. somfo`s porous, spongy.] Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the seashore. [1913 Webster]
- Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
- A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only herbage, plants, and mosses. --Farming Encyc. (E. Edwards, Words). [1913 Webster]
- Swamp blackbird. (Zool.) See Redwing (b) .
- Swamp cabbage (Bot.), skunk cabbage.
- Swamp deer (Zool.), an Asiatic deer (Rucervus Duvaucelli) of India.
- Swamp hen. (Zool.) (a) An Australian azure-breasted bird (Porphyrio bellus); -- called also goollema. (b) An Australian water crake, or rail (Porzana Tabuensis); -- called also little swamp hen. (c) The European purple gallinule.
- Swamp honeysuckle (Bot.), an American shrub ({Azalea viscosa} syn. Rhododendron viscosa or {Rhododendron viscosum}) growing in swampy places, with fragrant flowers of a white color, or white tinged with rose; -- called also swamp pink and white swamp honeysuckle.
- Swamp hook, a hook and chain used by lumbermen in handling logs. Cf. Cant hook.
- Swamp itch. (Med.) See Prairie itch, under Prairie.
- Swamp laurel (Bot.), a shrub (Kalmia glauca) having small leaves with the lower surface glaucous.
- Swamp maple (Bot.), red maple. See Maple.
- Swamp oak (Bot.), a name given to several kinds of oak which grow in swampy places, as swamp Spanish oak (Quercus palustris), swamp white oak ({Quercus bicolor}), swamp post oak (Quercus lyrata).
- Swamp ore (Min.), bog ore; limonite.
- Swamp partridge (Zool.), any one of several Australian game birds of the genera Synoicus and Excalfatoria, allied to the European partridges.
- Swamp robin (Zool.), the chewink.
- Swamp sassafras (Bot.), a small North American tree of the genus Magnolia (Magnolia glauca) with aromatic leaves and fragrant creamy-white blossoms; -- called also {sweet bay}.
- Swamp sparrow (Zool.), a common North American sparrow (Melospiza Georgiana, or Melospiza palustris), closely resembling the song sparrow. It lives in low, swampy places.
- Swamp willow. (Bot.) See Pussy willow, under Pussy. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'sweet bay'
From: GCIDE
- Laurel \Lau"rel\, n. [OE. lorel, laurer, lorer, OF. lorier, laurier, F. laurier, (assumed) LL. Laurarius, fr. L. laurus.]
- 1. (Bot.) An evergreen shrub, of the genus Laurus ({Laurus nobilis}), having aromatic leaves of a lanceolate shape, with clusters of small, yellowish white flowers in their axils; -- called also sweet bay.
- Note: The fruit is a purple berry. It is found about the Mediterranean, and was early used by the ancient Greeks to crown the victor in the games of Apollo. At a later period, academic honors were indicated by a crown of laurel, with the fruit. The leaves and tree yield an aromatic oil, used to flavor the bay water of commerce. [1913 Webster]
- Note: The name is extended to other plants which in some respect resemble the true laurel. See Phrases, below. [1913 Webster]
- 2. A crown of laurel; hence, honor; distinction; fame; -- especially in the plural; as, to win laurels. [1913 Webster]
- 3. An English gold coin made in 1619, and so called because the king's head on it was crowned with laurel. [1913 Webster]
- Laurel water, water distilled from the fresh leaves of the cherry laurel, and containing prussic acid and other products carried over in the process. [1913 Webster]
- American laurel, or Mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia; called also calico bush. See under Mountain.
- California laurel, Umbellularia Californica.
- Cherry laurel (in England called laurel). See under Cherry.
- Great laurel, the rosebay (Rhododendron maximum).
- Ground laurel, trailing arbutus.
- New Zealand laurel, the Laurelia Nov[ae] Zelandi[ae].
- Portugal laurel, the Prunus Lusitanica.
- Rose laurel, the oleander. See Oleander.
- Sheep laurel, a poisonous shrub, Kalmia angustifolia, smaller than the mountain laurel, and with smaller and redder flowers.
- Spurge laurel, Daphne Laureola.
- West Indian laurel, Prunus occidentalis. [1913 Webster]