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sweet gale

American  

noun

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


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of sweet gale

First recorded in 1630–40


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

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 Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton

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 Francis Hamilton

Footnote 7: Ale brewed of the herb called sweet gale, or Dutch myrtle, instead of hops.--Tr.

From The Childhood of King Erik Menved An Historical Romance by Bernhard Severin Ingemann

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 Frances W. Graham

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

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