a. [ Compar. Sweeter superl. Sweetest. ] [ OE. swete, swote, sote, AS. swēte; akin to OFries. swēte, OS. swōti, D. zoet, G. süss, OHG. suozi, Icel. saetr, soetr, Sw. söt, Dan. söd, Goth. suts, L. suavis, for suadvis, Gr. &unr_;, Skr. svādu sweet, svad, svād, to sweeten. √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 ]

☞ 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 ]

adv. Sweetly. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To sweeten. [ Obs. ] Udall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. That which is sweet to the taste; -- used chiefly in the plural. Specifically: (a) Confectionery, sweetmeats, preserves, etc. (b) Home-made wines, cordials, metheglin, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is sweet or pleasant in odor; a perfume. “A wilderness of sweets.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is pleasing or grateful to the mind; as, the sweets of domestic life. [ 1913 Webster ]

A little bitter mingled in our cup leaves no relish of the sweet. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. One who is dear to another; a darling; -- a term of endearment. “Wherefore frowns my sweet?” B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Either the thymus gland or the pancreas, the former being called neck sweetbread or throat sweetbread, the latter belly sweetbread. The sweetbreads of ruminants, esp. of the calf, are highly esteemed as food. See Pancreas, and Thymus. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Anat.) The pancreas. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a sweet, musical voice, as the nightingale. Cf. Breast, n., 6. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A kind of rose (Rosa rubiginosa) with minutely glandular and fragrant foliage. The small-flowered sweetbrier is Rosa micrantha. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become sweet. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Sweetened p. pr. & vb. n. Sweetening. ] [ See Sweet, a. ] 1. To make sweet to the taste; as, to sweeten tea. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make pleasing or grateful to the mind or feelings; as, to sweeten life; to sweeten friendship. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make mild or kind; to soften; as, to sweeten the temper. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To make less painful or laborious; to relieve; as, to sweeten the cares of life. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

And sweeten every secret tear. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To soften to the eye; to make delicate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Correggio has made his memory immortal by the strength he has given to his figures, and by sweetening his lights and shadows, and melting them into each other. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To make pure and salubrious by destroying noxious matter; as, to sweeten rooms or apartments that have been infected; to sweeten the air. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To make warm and fertile; -- opposed to sour; as, to dry and sweeten soils. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To restore to purity; to free from taint; as, to sweeten water, butter, or meat. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, sweetens; one who palliates; that which moderates acrimony. [ 1913 Webster ]