DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 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.

 Col·ocynth n.  Med. The light spongy pulp of the fruit of the bitter cucumber (Citrullus colocynthis, or  Cucumis colocynthis), an Asiatic plant allied to the watermelon; coloquintida. It comes in white balls, is intensely bitter, and a powerful cathartic. Called also bitter apple, bitter cucumber, bitter gourd.
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 Cu·cum·ber n.  Bot. A creeping plant, and its fruit, of several species of the genus Cucumis, esp. Cucumis sativus, the unripe fruit of which is eaten either fresh or picked. Also, similar plants or fruits of several other genera. See below.
 Bitter cucumber Bot., the Citrullus Colocynthis syn. Cucumis Colocynthis. See Colocynth.
 Cucumber beetle. Zool. (a) A small, black flea-beetle (Crepidodera cucumeris), which destroys the leaves of cucumber, squash, and melon vines. (b) The squash beetle.
 Cucumber tree. (a) A large ornamental or shade tree of the genus Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata), so called from a slight resemblance of its young fruit to a small cucumber. (b) An East Indian plant (Averrhoa Bilimbi) which produces the fruit known as bilimbi.
 Jamaica cucumber, Jerusalem cucumber, the prickly-fruited gherkin (Cucumis Anguria).
 Snake cucumber, a species (Cucumis flexuosus) remarkable for its long, curiously-shaped fruit.
 Squirting cucumber, a plant (Ecbalium Elaterium) whose small oval fruit separates from the footstalk when ripe and expels its seeds and juice with considerable force through the opening thus made. See Elaterium.
 Star cucumber, a climbing weed (Sicyos angulatus) with prickly fruit.
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