Bittersweet

·noun A kind of apple so called.

II. Bittersweet ·noun Anything which is bittersweet.

III. Bittersweet ·adj Sweet and then bitter or bitter and then sweet; ·esp. sweet with a bitter after taste; hence (Fig.), pleasant but painful.

IV. Bittersweet ·noun An American woody climber (Celastrus scandens), whose yellow capsules open late in autumn, and disclose the red aril which covers the seeds;

— also called Roxbury waxwork.

V. Bittersweet ·noun A climbing shrub, with oval coral-red berries (Solanum dulcamara); woody nightshade. The whole plant is poisonous, and has a taste at first sweetish and then bitter. The branches are the officinal dulcamara.