SWEETLY
sweetly, sweet
(adverb) in an affectionate or loving manner (âsweetâ is sometimes a poetic or informal variant of âsweetlyâ); âSusan Hayward plays the wife sharply and sweetlyâ; âhow sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bankâ- Shakespeare; âtalking sweet to each otherâ
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adverb
sweetly (comparative sweetlier or more sweetly, superlative sweetliest or most sweetly)
In a sweet or pleasant manner.
Anagrams
• Westley
Source: Wiktionary
Sweet"ly, adv. Etym: [AS. swetlice.]
Definition: In a sweet manner.
SWEET
Sweet, a. [Compar. Sweeter; superl. Sweetest.] Etym: [OE. swete,
swote, sote, AS. swete; akin to OFries. swete, OS. swoti, D. zoet, G.
sĂŒss, OHG. suozi, Icel. sĂŠtr, soetr, Sw. söt, Dan. söd, Goth. suts,
L. suavis, for suadvis, Gr. svadu sweet, svad, svad, 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.
2. Pleasing to the smell; fragrant; redolent; balmy; as, a sweet
rose; sweet odor; sweet incense.
The breath of these flowers is sweet to me. Longfellow.
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.
To make his English sweet upon his tongue. Chaucer.
A voice sweet, tremulous, but powerful. Hawthorne.
4. Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair; as, a
sweet face; a sweet color or complexion.
Sweet interchange Of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains.
Milton.
5. Fresh; not salt or brackish; as, sweet water. Bacon.
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.
7. Plaesing to the mind; mild; gentle; calm; amiable; winning;
presuasive; as, sweet manners.
Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades Job xxxviii. 31.
Mildness and sweet reasonableness is the one established rule of
Christian working. M. Arnold.
Note: Sweet is often used in the formation of self-explaining
compounds; as, sweet-blossomed, sweet-featured, sweet-smelling,
sweet-tempered, sweet-toned, etc. Sweet alyssum. (Bot.) See Alyssum.
– Sweet apple. (Bot.) (a) Any apple of sweet flavor. (b) See Sweet-
top.
– Sweet bay. (Bot.) (a) The laurel (laurus nobilis). (b) Swamp
sassafras.
– Sweet calabash (Bot.), a plant of the genus Passiflora (P.
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 (M.
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, or
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 (Zoöl.), 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 (C. 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) (Zoöl.) The willow
warbler. (c) (Zoöl.) 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.
Syn.
– Sugary; saccharine; dulcet; luscious.
Sweet, 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.
2. That which is sweet or pleasant in odor; a perfume. "A wilderness
of sweets." Milton.
3. That which is pleasing or grateful to the mind; as, the sweets of
domestic life.
A little bitter mingled in our cup leaves no relish of the sweet.
Locke.
4. One who is dear to another; a darling; -- a term of endearment.
"Wherefore frowns my sweet" B. Jonson.
Sweet, adv.
Definition: Sweetly. Shak.
Sweet, v. t.
Definition: To sweeten. [Obs.] Udall.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition