A few types of molecules get sensed by receptors on the tongue. Protons coming off of acids ping receptors for "sour." Sugars get received as "sweet." Bitter, salty, and the proteinaceous flavor umami all set off their own neural cascades.2018 May 16, Adam Rogers, “The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel”, in Wired:
Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, / I will give them all back again.1838 October, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Reaper and the Flowers”, in Voices of the Night, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1839, →OCLC, page 8:
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Not decaying, fermented, rancid, sour, spoiled, or stale.
sweet milk
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Of a pleasant sound.
a sweet tune
Smooth jazz music has sweet drum beats and cymbals!
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The cicale above in the lime, / And the lizards below in the grass, / Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, / Listening to my sweet pipings.a. 1823 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Hymn of Pan”, in Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, editor, Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and Henry L[eigh] Hunt, […], published 1824, →OCLC, page 169:
a voice sweet, tremulous, but powerful1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Ticknor and Fields, page 135:
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Of a pleasing disposition.
a sweet child
It was sweet of her to send some roses for her unwell grandmother.
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You're so sweet!
There's something tragic, but almost pure / Think I could love you, but I'm not sure / There's something wholesome, there's something sweet / Tucked in your eyes that I'd love to meet2017 April 13, Mitchy Collins, Samantha Derosa, Christian Medice, “Broken”, in Finding It Hard to Smile, performed by Lovelytheband:
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Of a helpful disposition.
It was sweet of him to help out.
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Chemistry, Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, Natural sciences, Physical sciences Free from excessive unwanted substances like acid or sulphur.
Her crew knew that deep in her heart beat engines fit and able to push her blunt old nose ahead at a sweet fourteen knots, come Hell or high water.1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 1:
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14 November 2014, Steven Haliday, Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero GORDON Strachan enjoyed the sweetest of his 16 matches in charge of Scotland so far as his team enhanced their prospects of Euro 2016 qualification with a crucial and deserved victory over Republic of Ireland.
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Australia, Slang Doing well; in a good or happy position.
"Visit in two days though," said Tommo. "Hang in there mate, got a joey coming, we'll be sweet then."2012, John Hoskison, Inside: One Man's Experience of Prison:
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Informal, Followed by on Romantically fixated; enamored with; fond of.
The attraction was mutual and instant; they were sweet on one another from first sight.
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Fresh; not salt or brackish.
sweet water
The white of an egg, or blood mingled with salt water, doth gather the saltness and maketh the water sweeter; this may be by adhesion.1627, Francis Bacon, “Sylva Sylvarum: or A Natural History”, in The Works of Francis Bacon, published 1826, page 66:
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Nothing has been found so effectual for preserving water sweet at sea, during long voyages, as charring the insides of the casks well before they are filled.1821, Robert Thomas, The modern practice of physic, page 713:
From Middle English soot, sweete, swete, swoote, from Old English swēte, swoete, swōt, swœ̄te (“sweet”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōtī, from Proto-Germanic *swōtuz (“sweet”), from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (“sweet”), from *sweh₂d- (“sweet”) + *-us. Cognates Cognate with Yola sweet (“sweet”), Saterland Frisian swäit (“sweet”), West Frisian swiet (“sweet”), Alemannic German süeß (“sweet”), Bavarian siaß (“sweet; cute”), Central Franconian söß (“sweet”), Dutch zoet (“sweet”), German süss, süß (“sweet; cute”), Limburgish söüt (“sweet; cute”), Low German seut, sööt (“sweet”), Luxembourgish séiss (“sweet”), Vilamovian ziss (“sweet”), Yiddish זיס (zis, “sweet; cute”), Danish sød (“sweet; cute, pretty”), Faroese søtur (“sweet”), Icelandic sætur (“sweet; cute, pretty”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk søt (“sweet; cute”), Swedish söt (“sweet; cute”); also Latin suāvis (“delicious, pleasant, sweet”), Ancient Greek ἡδύς (hēdús, “sweet; pleasant; glad, pleased”), Albanian shije (“flavour, taste”), Lithuanian sūdyti (“to add salt; to brine, souse”), Armenian քաղցր (kʻaġcʻr, “sweet”), Tocharian A swār (“sweet”), Tocharian B swāre (“sweet, tender”), Sanskrit स्वादु (svādú, “delicious, palatable, savoury, sweet, tasty; dainty, delicate”). Doublet of suave.
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Used as a positive response to good news or information.
They're making a sequel? Ah, sweet!
sweet
adv
Etymology
From Middle English soot, sweete, swete, swoote, from Old English swēte, swoete, swōt, swœ̄te (“sweet”), from Proto-West Germanic *swōtī, from Proto-Germanic *swōtuz (“sweet”), from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (“sweet”), from *sweh₂d- (“sweet”) + *-us. Cognates Cognate with Yola sweet (“sweet”), Saterland Frisian swäit (“sweet”), West Frisian swiet (“sweet”), Alemannic German süeß (“sweet”), Bavarian siaß (“sweet; cute”), Central Franconian söß (“sweet”), Dutch zoet (“sweet”), German süss, süß (“sweet; cute”), Limburgish söüt (“sweet; cute”), Low German seut, sööt (“sweet”), Luxembourgish séiss (“sweet”), Vilamovian ziss (“sweet”), Yiddish זיס (zis, “sweet; cute”), Danish sød (“sweet; cute, pretty”), Faroese søtur (“sweet”), Icelandic sætur (“sweet; cute, pretty”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk søt (“sweet; cute”), Swedish söt (“sweet; cute”); also Latin suāvis (“delicious, pleasant, sweet”), Ancient Greek ἡδύς (hēdús, “sweet; pleasant; glad, pleased”), Albanian shije (“flavour, taste”), Lithuanian sūdyti (“to add salt; to brine, souse”), Armenian քաղցր (kʻaġcʻr, “sweet”), Tocharian A swār (“sweet”), Tocharian B swāre (“sweet, tender”), Sanskrit स्वादु (svādú, “delicious, palatable, savoury, sweet, tasty; dainty, delicate”). Doublet of suave.
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In a pleasant manner.
Go down beside thy native rill, On thy Parnassus set thy feet, And hear thy laurel whisper sweet About the ledges of the hill.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXVII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 57:
VVherefore frovvnes my ſvveet? / Haue I too long bene abſent from theſe lips, / This cheeke, theſe eyes?1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act I, signature B2, verso:
"You think that I'll take anything." "I know you will, sweet..." "There wasn't going to be any of that. You promised there wouldn't be." "Well, there is now," she said sweetly.1936 Aug., Ernest Hemingway, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber", Cosmopolitan
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Good evening, my sweet.
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Obsolete That which is sweet or pleasant in odour; a perfume.
a wilderness of sweets1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
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Obsolete Sweetness, delight; something pleasant to the mind or senses.
Fear's fire to fervency, which makes love's sweet prove nectar.1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, III.2:
In size and shape it resembles the heart of a calf, and the interior substance is similar to thick cream, sweeted with fine sugar.1825, John Breckinridge, C.R. Harrison, Western Luminary ... - Volume 1, page 318:
It might also be given in the form of a mixture — the drug being insoluble in a watery menstruum — suspended by the aid of mucilage and sweeted by any of the various flavoring syrups.1890, The Cincinnati Lancet-clinic - Volume 63, page 331:
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Bring me now where the warm wind blows, where the grasses sigh, where the sweet-tongued blossom flowers; where the shower, fan soft like a fishermans net thrown through the sweeted air.1997, Morag Styles, From the Garden to the Street, →ISBN:
A sour maketh sweets two-fold sweeted.2012, Keith Ringkamp, PATIENCE WORTH: A Balm for Every Ill, →ISBN, page 34: