sweet gale

American  

noun

1. an aromatic shrub, Myrica gale, of marshes, having lance-shaped leaves and yellowish fruit.

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sweet gale British  

noun

1. Often shortened to: gale.  Also called: bog myrtle.  a shrub, Myrica gale, of northern swamp regions, having yellow catkin-like flowers and aromatic leaves: family Myricaceae

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Etymology

Origin of sweet gale

First recorded in 1630–40

Example Sentences

Erasmus is, much more than Aretino or Castiglione, the representative of the spirit of his age, one over whose Christian sentiment the sweet gale of Antiquity had passed.

From Erasmus and the Age of Reformation by Huizinga, Johan

The sweet gale, or Dutch myrtle, grows in moorland fens.

From Two Decades A History of the First Twenty Years' Work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of the State of New York by Graham, Frances W.

The popular name of a plant, also known as the sweet gale or gaul, sweet willow, bog or Dutch myrtle.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4 "G" to "Gaskell, Elizabeth" by Various

II Death, death is the gloomy shore Where we all sail— Soft, soft, thou gliding oar; Blow soft, sweet gale!

From Last Days of Pompeii by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

It is a shrub much like our sweet gale in Europe, and its leaves are very odorous, and, even when dried, retain their fragrance. 

From An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal And of the Territories Annexed to this Dominion by the House of Gorkha by Hamilton, Francis