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f reproach or sarcasm; deep distress, grief, or vexation of mind. The lip that curls with bitterness. Percival. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Job vii. 11.

Of the nature of wormwood. "Absinthian bitterness." T. Randolph.

Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit.

The quality of being acrid or pungent; irritant bitterness; acrimony; as, the acridity of a plant, of a speech.

Sharpness or severity, as of language or temper; irritating bitterness of disposition or manners. John the Baptist set himself with much acrimony and indignation to baffle this senseless arrogant conceit of theirs. South.

To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate; as, to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity. It would allay the burning quality of that fell poison. Shak.

Bitterness. [R.]

other evidence. His promise that thy seed shall bruise our foe . . . Assures me that the bitterness of death Is past, and we shall live. Milton.

Bitterness of feeling; choler; anger; ill humor; as, to stir one's bile. Prescott.

Full of bitterness. [Obs.]

to allay; to qualify; to moderate; to soften. [Obs.] The antidotes . . . have allayed its bitterness and contempered its malignancy. Johnson.

quital. [Obs.] Surely, the present pleasure of a sinful act is a poor countervail for the bitterness of the review. South.

To free from bitterness.

ll successive quantities; in repeated portions. "Made to taste drop by drop more than the bitterness of death." Burke. -- Drop curtain. See Drop, n.,

To taint or impregnate with bitterness, malice, or hatred; to imbue as with venom; to imbitter. The envenomed tongue of calumny. Smollett. On the question of slavery opinion has of late years been peculiarly envenomed. Sir G. C. Lewis.

Anything extremely bitter; bitterness; rancor. He hath . . . compassed me with gall and travail. Lam. iii. 5. Comedy diverted without gall. Dryden.

etness in the taste somewhat resembling that of licorice, combined with a slight aromatic bitterness.

To belong; to pertain. [Obs.] A somewhat languid relish, retaining to bitterness. Boyle.

Fig.: Bitterness; disappointment; grief; regret. Goat's rue. See under Goat. -- Rue anemone, a pretty springtime flower (Thalictrum anemonides) common in the United States. -- Wall rue, a little fern (Asplenium Ruta-muraria) common on walls in Europe.

Extreme bitterness or malignity of disposition. "Refuted without satirical virulency." Barrow. The virulence of one declaimer, or the profundities and sublimities of the other. I. Taylor.