'Sweet gale' definitions:

Definition of 'sweet gale'

From: WordNet
noun
Bog shrub of north temperate zone having bitter-tasting fragrant leaves [syn: sweet gale, Scotch gale, Myrica gale]

Definition of 'Sweet gale'

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]