sweet bay

American  

noun

1. laurel.

2. an American magnolia, Magnolia virginiana, having large oblong leaves and fragrant, white flowers, common on the Atlantic coast.

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sweet bay British  

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: bay.  a small tree, Magnolia virginiana, of SE North America, having large fragrant white flowers: family Magnoliaceae (magnolias)

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Etymology

Origin of sweet bay

First recorded in 1710–20

Example Sentences

A flatbed trailer was loaded with scores of potted native trees: Shumard oak, yellow poplar, persimmon, Eastern red cedar, sweet bay magnolia.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 26, 2021

But I will liken thee to the sweet bay, Which I first learned, in the Cohasset woods, To name upon a sweet and pensive day Passed in their ministering solitudes.

From Life Without and Life Within or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and poems. by Fuller, Margaret

As substitutes for tea many leaves may be named which will not be called simply medicinal, prominently those of the sweet bay, the peach, and the black currant.

From The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879 by Various

The salt sea-wind whistled and curled through the crested waves, blowing in perfumed puffs across thickets of sweet bay and cedar.

From In Search of the Unknown by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)

Poison oak, sweet bay trees, calcanthus, brush, and chaparral, grew freely but sparsely all about it.

From The Silverado Squatters by Stevenson, Robert Louis