SWEETEN


Meaning of SWEETEN in English

ˈswēt ə n verb

( sweetened ; sweetened ; sweetening -t( ə )niŋ ; sweetens )

Etymology: sweet (I) + -en

transitive verb

1.

a. : to add sugar or other sweetening to

sweeten the cereal

sweeten the coffee

b. : to make more pleasant to the ear : make softer or more melodious

the roaring river fills all the arching way with … reverberating music, which is sweetened at times by the ouzel — John Muir †1914

c. : to make more pleasant to the smell : add fragrance to

the piny aroma of the greenwoods, sweetened by the fragrance of laurel and azalea — American Guide Series: Connecticut

2.

a. : to make amiable and pleasant in disposition : free from harshness : refine

religion … did not sweeten her old age — George Santayana

b. : to soften the mood or attitude of : appease , mollify

now they thought it was time to sweeten the people, and deliver them from their burthens — Lucy Hutchinson

wants to sweeten up United States opinion — Time

c. : to make amenable or obliging by friendly attentions or gifts : soften up

brought in business because he got around, and sweetened contacts — J.P.Marquand

had to … sweeten dealers with beer, wrangle with claims agents — Saul Bellow

3.

a. : to make agreeable or delightful : add a pleasant quality to

pastimes and sports … sweetened the voyage and prevented arguments and quarrels — David Garnett

suddenly cut off from all that sweetened life for her — Edith Wharton

b. : to lessen the unpleasant quality or effect of : make less painful or trying : lighten

the most important single function of the humor is to sweeten the instruction — Rebecca P. Parkin

invariably sweetened his violence with wit — J.J.Mallon

c. : to make soft or mellow (as a line or tint)

4. : to make fresh and wholesome : cleanse , purify

all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand — Shakespeare

5. : relieve , solace

charity which sweetens giver and recipient in equal measure — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude

6. : to free from a harmful or undesirable quality or substance: as

a. : to reduce the acidity of (soil) by applying lime

b. : to deprive (as sea water) of salt

c. : to neutralize acid in by the use of an alkali

d. : to treat (as gasoline) so as to remove or make inoffensive sulfur or sulfur compounds that are malodorous and corrosive

e. : to purify especially by fumigating or filtering

7. : to make more valuable or attractive: as

a. : to add poker chips to (a pot not won on the previous deal) prior to another deal

b.

(1) : to place additional securities as collateral for (a loan)

(2) : to offer stock as a bonus to the purchaser of (a bond)

(3) : to improve the terms of (a security issue) to facilitate sale

c. : to improve (as a grade of lumber) by including a better quality than specified

d. : to add new goods to (present stock) in an effort to promote sales — often used with up

intransitive verb

: to become sweet

set her mother's milk pails upside down on the garden hedge to sweeten — Mary Webb

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.