adj. & n.
--adj.
1. having the pleasant taste characteristic of sugar.
2 smelling pleasant like roses or perfume etc.; fragrant.
3 (of sound etc.) melodious or harmonious.
4 a not salt, sour, or bitter. b fresh, with flavour unimpaired by rottenness. c (of water) fresh and readily drinkable.
5 (of wine) having a sweet taste (opp. DRY).
6 highly gratifying or attractive.
7 amiable, pleasant (has a sweet nature).
8 colloq. (of a person or thing) pretty, charming, endearing.
9 (foll. by on) colloq. fond of; in love with.
--n.
1. Brit. a small shaped piece of confectionery usu. made with sugar or sweet chocolate.
2 Brit. a sweet dish forming a course of a meal.
3 a sweet part of something; sweetness.
4 (in pl.) delights, gratification.
5 (esp. as a form of address) sweetheart etc.
Phrases and idioms:
she's sweet Austral. sl. all is well. sweet-and-sour cooked in a sauce containing sugar and vinegar or lemon etc. sweet basil see BASIL. sweet bay BAY(2). sweet-brier see BRIER(1). sweet chestnut see CHESTNUT. sweet cicely a white-flowered aromatic plant, Myrrhis odorata. sweet corn
1. a kind of maize with kernels having a high sugar content.
2 these kernels, eaten as a vegetable when young. sweet flag sweet rush. sweet-gale see GALE(2). sweet pea any climbing plant of the genus Lathyrus, esp. L. odoratus with fragrant flowers in many colours. sweet pepper see PEPPER.
sweet potato
1. a tropical climbing plant, Ipomoea batatas, with sweet tuberous roots used for food.
2 the root of this. sweet rocket see ROCKET(2). sweet rush (or sedge) a kind of sedge with a thick creeping aromatic rootstock used in medicine and confectionery. sweet sultan a sweet-scented plant, Centaurea moschata or C. suaveoleus. sweet talk colloq. flattery, blandishment. sweet-talk v.tr. colloq. flatter in order to persuade. sweet-tempered amiable. sweet tooth a liking for sweet-tasting things. sweet violet a sweet-scented violet, Viola odorata. sweet william a plant, Dianthus barbatus, with clusters of vivid fragrant flowers.
Derivatives:
sweetish adj. sweetly adv.
Etymology: OE swete f. Gmc