bitter-sweetadj.n.
A. adj.
Sweet with an admixture or aftertaste of bitterness. fig. agreeable or pleasant with an alloy of pain or unpleasantness.
ΚΠ
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Amer-doux, a bitter-sweet apple.
1633 W. Rowley Match at Mid-night in Old Plays VIII. 373 Till then adieu, you bitter-sweet one.
1641 H. Maisterson Serm. 18 Bitter-sweet delights, or pleasures mixt with pain.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. v. iii. 128 To compose a Draught that might be termed bitter-sweet . View more context for this quotation
1855 G. Brimley Ess. (1858) i. 94 It awakes all the fountains of bitter-sweet memory.
B. n.
1. A thing which is bitter-sweet; sweetness or pleasure alloyed with bitterness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > quality of being pleasant or pleasurable > [noun] > source of pleasure > alloyed with bitterness
bitter-sweet1386
glycypicron1599
1386 Chaucer Canon's Yeoman's Prol. & Tale 325 Vn-to hem it is a bitter-swete.
1628 O. Felltham Resolves: 2nd Cent. xciiii. sig. Bb2, 'Tis something like Loue, a kinde of bitter-sweet.
1878 J. A. Symonds Sonnets M. Angelo xl, A bitter-sweet sways here and there my mind.
2. A kind of apple.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > apple > [noun] > eating-apple > types of
costardc1390
bitter-sweet1393
Queening?1435
richardine?1435
blaundrellc1440
pear apple1440
tuberc1440
quarrendenc1450
birtle1483
deusan1570
apple-john1572
Richard1572
lording1573
greening1577
queen apple1579
peeler1580
darling1584
doucin1584
golding1589
puffin1589
lady's longing1591
bitter-sweeting1597
pearmain1597
paradise apple1598
garden globe1600
gastlet1600
leather-coat1600
maligar1600
pome-paradise1601
French pippin1629
gillyflower1629
king apple1635
lady apple1651
golden pippin1654
goldling1655
puff1655
cardinal1658
green fillet1662
chestnut1664
cinnamon apple1664
fenouil1664
go-no-further1664
Westbury apple1664
seek-no-farther1670
nonsuch1676
calville1691
passe-pomme1691
fennel apple1699
queen1699
genet1706
fig-apple1707
oaken pin1707
nonpareil1726
costing1731
monstrous reinette1731
Newtown pippin1760
Ribston1782
Rhode Island greening1795
oslin1801
fall pippin1803
monstrous pippin1817
Newtown Spitzenburg1817
Gravenstein1821
Red Astrachan1822
Tolman sweet1822
grange apple1823
orange pippin1823
Baldwin1826
Sturmer Pippin1831
Newtowner1846
Northern Spy1847
Blenheim Orange1860
Cox1860
McIntosh Red1876
Worcester1877
raspberry apple1894
delicious1898
Laxton's Superb1920
Macoun1924
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > apple > eating-apple > types of
costardc1390
bitter-sweet1393
pippin?1435
pomewater?1435
Queening?1435
richardine?1435
blaundrellc1440
pear apple1440
tuberc1440
quarrendenc1450
birtle1483
sweeting1530
pomeroyal1534
renneta1568
deusan1570
apple-john1572
Richard1572
lording1573
russeting1573
greening1577
queen apple1579
peeler1580
reinette1582
darling1584
doucin1584
golding1589
puffin1589
lady's longing1591
bitter-sweeting1597
pearmain1597
paradise apple1598
garden globe1600
gastlet1600
leather-coat1600
maligar1600
pomeroy1600
short-start1600
jenneting1601
pome-paradise1601
russet coat1602
John apple1604
honey apple1611
honeymeal1611
musk apple1611
short-shank1611
spice apple1611
French pippin1629
king apple1635
lady apple1651
golden pippin1654
goldling1655
puff1655
cardinal1658
renneting1658
green fillet1662
chestnut1664
cinnamon apple1664
fenouil1664
go-no-further1664
reinetting1664
Westbury apple1664
seek-no-farther1670
nonsuch1676
white-wining1676
russet1686
calville1691
fennel apple1699
queen1699
genet1706
fig-apple1707
oaken pin1707
musk1708
nonpareil1726
costing1731
monstrous reinette1731
Newtown pippin1760
Ribston1782
Rhode Island greening1795
oslin1801
wine apple1802
fall pippin1803
monstrous pippin1817
Newtown Spitzenburg1817
Gravenstein1821
Red Astrachan1822
Tolman sweet1822
grange apple1823
orange pippin1823
Baldwin1826
wine-sap1826
Jonathan1831
Sturmer Pippin1831
rusty-coat1843
Newtowner1846
Northern Spy1847
Cornish gilliflowerc1850
Blenheim Orange1860
Cox1860
nutmeg pippin1860
McIntosh Red1876
Worcester1877
raspberry apple1894
delicious1898
Laxton's Superb1920
Melba apple1928
Melba1933
Mutsu1951
Newtown1953
discovery1964
1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 281 Lich unto the bitter swete, For though it thenke a man first swete, He shall well felen ate laste, That it is soure.
1483 Cath. Angl. 33 A Bittyrswete, amarimellum, musceum.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Apple called a bytter swete, amarimellum.
1727 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Oeconomique (Dublin ed.) at Cyder, The best sort of Cyder..made of..the Bitter-sweet.
3. Herb. The Woody Nightshade, Solanum Dulcamara, a common shrubling plant in Britain. (A translation by Turner of the medieval Latin name.)
ΚΠ
1568 W. Turner Herbal iii. 2.
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 278 Bitter sweete bringeth foorth wooddie stalks as doth the Vine.
1671 W. Salmon Synopsis Medicinæ iii. xxii. 390 Bittersweet helps the Jaundies.
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel II. 198 Ramping woodbines and blue bitter-sweet.
1882 Times 6 July 10/4 The bitter-sweet is a twining shrub with scarlet berries.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online December 2016).
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adj.n.1386