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3 definitions found

From: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

 Bit·ter a.
 1. Having a peculiar, acrid, biting taste, like that of wormwood or an infusion of hops; as, a bitter medicine; bitter as aloes.
 2. Causing pain or smart; piercing; painful; sharp; severe; as, a bitter cold day.
 3. Causing, or fitted to cause, pain or distress to the mind; calamitous; poignant.
    It is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.   --Jer. ii. 19.
 4. Characterized by sharpness, severity, or cruelty; harsh; stern; virulent; as, bitter reproach.
    Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.   --Col. iii. 19.
 5. Mournful; sad; distressing; painful; pitiable.
    The Egyptians . . . made their lives bitter with hard bondage.   --Ex. i. 14.
 Bitter apple, Bitter cucumber, Bitter gourd. Bot. See Colocynth.
 Bitter cress Bot., a plant of the genus Cardamine, esp. Cardamine amara.
 Bitter earth Min., tale earth; calcined magnesia.
 Bitter principles Chem., a class of substances, extracted from vegetable products, having strong bitter taste but with no sharply defined chemical characteristics.
 Bitter salt, Epsom salts; magnesium sulphate.
 Bitter vetch Bot., a name given to two European leguminous herbs, Vicia Orobus and Ervum Ervilia.
 To the bitter end, to the last extremity, however calamitous.
 Syn: -- Acrid; sharp; harsh; pungent; stinging; cutting; severe; acrimonious.

From: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

 Cress n.; pl. Cresses   Bot. A plant of various species, chiefly cruciferous. The leaves have a moderately pungent taste, and are used as a salad and antiscorbutic.
 Note: ☞ The garden cress, called also peppergrass, is the Lepidium sativum; the water cress is the Nasturtium officinale. Various other plants are sometimes called cresses.
    To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread.   --Goldsmith.
 Bitter cress. See under Bitter.
 Not worth a cress, or not worth a kers.” a common old proverb, now turned into the meaningless “not worth a curse.”
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From: WordNet (r) 2.0

 bitter cress
      n : any of various herbs of the genus Cardamine, having usually
          pinnate leaves and racemes of white, pink or purple
          flowers; cosmopolitan except Antarctic [syn: bittercress]