from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Bittersweet \Bit"ter*sweet`\, n.
1. Anything which is bittersweet.
[1913 Webster]
2. A kind of apple so called. --Gower.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Bot.)
(a) A climbing shrub, with oval coral-red berries
({Solanum dulcamara}); woody nightshade. The whole
plant is poisonous, and has a taste at first sweetish
and then bitter. The branches are the officinal
{dulcamara}.
(b) An American woody climber ({Celastrus scandens}),
whose yellow capsules open late in autumn, and
disclose the red aril which covers the seeds; -- also
called {Roxbury waxwork}.
[1913 Webster]