'Sweet pea' definitions:

Definition of 'sweet pea'

(from WordNet)
noun
Climbing garden plant having fragrant pastel-colored flowers [syn: sweet pea, sweetpea, Lathyrus odoratus]

Definition of 'Sweet pea'

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 pea'

From: GCIDE
  • Pea \Pea\, n.; pl. Peas (p[=e]z) or Pease (p[=e]z). [OE. pese, fr. AS. pisa, or OF. peis, F. pois; both fr. L. pisum; cf. Gr. pi`sos, pi`son. The final s was misunderstood in English as a plural ending. Cf. Pease.]
  • 1. (Bot.) A plant, and its fruit, of the genus Pisum, of many varieties, much cultivated for food. It has a papilionaceous flower, and the pericarp is a legume, popularly called a pod. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: When a definite number, more than one, is spoken of, the plural form peas is used; as, the pod contained nine peas; but, in a collective sense, the form pease is preferred; as, a bushel of pease; they had pease at dinner. This distinction is not always preserved, the form peas being used in both senses. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A name given, especially in the Southern States, to the seed of several leguminous plants (species of Dolichos, Cicer, Abrus, etc.) esp. those having a scar (hilum) of a different color from the rest of the seed. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The name pea is given to many leguminous plants more or less closely related to the common pea. See the Phrases, below. [1913 Webster]
  • Beach pea (Bot.), a seashore plant, Lathyrus maritimus.
  • Black-eyed pea, a West Indian name for {Dolichos sph[ae]rospermus} and its seed.
  • Butterfly pea, the American plant Clitoria Mariana, having showy blossoms.
  • Chick pea. See Chick-pea.
  • Egyptian pea. Same as Chick-pea.
  • Everlasting pea. See under Everlasting.
  • Glory pea. See under Glory, n.
  • Hoary pea, any plant of the genus Tephrosia; goat's rue.
  • Issue pea, Orris pea. (Med.) See under Issue, and Orris.
  • Milk pea. (Bot.) See under Milk.
  • Pea berry, a kind of a coffee bean or grain which grows single, and is round or pea-shaped; often used adjectively; as, pea-berry coffee.
  • Pea bug. (Zool.) Same as Pea weevil.
  • Pea coal, a size of coal smaller than nut coal.
  • Pea crab (Zool.), any small crab of the genus Pinnotheres, living as a commensal in bivalves; esp., the European species (Pinnotheres pisum) which lives in the common mussel and the cockle.
  • Pea dove (Zool.), the American ground dove.
  • Pea-flower tribe (Bot.), a suborder (Papilionace[ae]) of leguminous plants having blossoms essentially like that of the pea. --G. Bentham.
  • Pea maggot (Zool.), the larva of a European moth ({Tortrix pisi}), which is very destructive to peas.
  • Pea ore (Min.), argillaceous oxide of iron, occurring in round grains of a size of a pea; pisolitic ore.
  • Pea starch, the starch or flour of the common pea, which is sometimes used in adulterating wheat flour, pepper, etc.
  • Pea tree (Bot.), the name of several leguminous shrubs of the genus Caragana, natives of Siberia and China.
  • Pea vine. (Bot.) (a) Any plant which bears peas. (b) A kind of vetch or tare, common in the United States (Lathyrus Americana, and other similar species).
  • Pea weevil (Zool.), a small weevil (Bruchus pisi) which destroys peas by eating out the interior.
  • Pigeon pea. (Bot.) See Pigeon pea.
  • Sweet pea (Bot.), the annual plant Lathyrus odoratus; also, its many-colored, sweet-scented blossoms. [1913 Webster]

Words containing 'Sweet pea'