| 释义 |
sweet·en
\ˈswētən\ verb
(sweetened ; sweetened ; sweetening \-t(ə)niŋ\ ; sweetens)
Etymology: sweet (I) + -en
transitive verb
1.
a. : to add sugar or other sweetening to
< sweeten the cereal >
< sweeten the coffee >
b. : to make more pleasant to the ear : make softer or more melodious
< the roaring river fills all the arching way with … reverberating music, which is sweetened at times by the ouzel — John Muir †1914 >
c. : to make more pleasant to the smell : add fragrance to
< the piny aroma of the greenwoods, sweetened by the fragrance of laurel and azalea — American Guide Series: Connecticut >
2.
a. : to make amiable and pleasant in disposition : free from harshness : refine
< religion … did not sweeten her old age — George Santayana >
b. : to soften the mood or attitude of : appease, mollify
< now they thought it was time to sweeten the people, and deliver them from their burthens — Lucy Hutchinson >
< wants to sweeten up United States opinion — Time >
c. : to make amenable or obliging by friendly attentions or gifts : soften up
< brought in business because he got around, and sweetened contacts — J.P.Marquand >
< had to … sweeten dealers with beer, wrangle with claims agents — Saul Bellow >
3.
a. : to make agreeable or delightful : add a pleasant quality to
< pastimes and sports … sweetened the voyage and prevented arguments and quarrels — David Garnett >
< suddenly cut off from all that sweetened life for her — Edith Wharton >
b. : to lessen the unpleasant quality or effect of : make less painful or trying : lighten
< the most important single function of the humor is to sweeten the instruction — Rebecca P. Parkin >
< invariably sweetened his violence with wit — J.J.Mallon >
c. : to make soft or mellow (as a line or tint)
4. : to make fresh and wholesome : cleanse, purify
< all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand — Shakespeare >
5. : relieve, solace
< charity which sweetens giver and recipient in equal measure — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude >
6. : to free from a harmful or undesirable quality or substance: as
a. : to reduce the acidity of (soil) by applying lime
b. : to deprive (as sea water) of salt
c. : to neutralize acid in by the use of an alkali
d. : to treat (as gasoline) so as to remove or make inoffensive sulfur or sulfur compounds that are malodorous and corrosive
e. : to purify especially by fumigating or filtering
7. : to make more valuable or attractive: as
a. : to add poker chips to (a pot not won on the previous deal) prior to another deal
b.
(1) : to place additional securities as collateral for (a loan)
(2) : to offer stock as a bonus to the purchaser of (a bond)
(3) : to improve the terms of (a security issue) to facilitate sale
c. : to improve (as a grade of lumber) by including a better quality than specified
d. : to add new goods to (present stock) in an effort to promote sales — often used with up
intransitive verb
: to become sweet
< set her mother's milk pails upside down on the garden hedge to sweeten — Mary Webb > |