sweets

Pluralsweets

1. 1
   nouncountableplural

   Confectionery; sugary food such as candy, chocolate, and other small treats eaten for pleasure.

   After dinner the children were each allowed two sweets.

   The bakery sold pastries alongside a colorful display of sweets.

   Similarcandy, confectionery

   Note

   Here the word names the whole category, the way confectionery does, and in this use it is plural only: sweets are bad for your teeth, and the verb stays plural. If you need to count individual pieces, you are back in the ordinary plural. That plural has a singular, a sweet, which belongs to British and Indian English.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of sweet.

   The bakery window was full of cakes, cookies, and other sweets.

   Her dentist told her to cut back on sweets.

   Note

   A regular plural that follows the countable uses of sweet. In British and Indian English a sweet is a single piece of candy, so sweets are several pieces. In Britain a sweet can also be a dessert, which is how a menu comes to list three sweets. The basic taste has no everyday plural. The obsolete senses of perfume and delight are close kin to the fragrant-flowers use.

3. 3
   noun

   An affectionate name used to address a sweetheart or loved one.

   Don't worry, sweets, the train will be here soon.

   She greeted her husband at the door with a soft "How was work, sweets?"

   Similardarling, honey, sweetheart, dear, love

   Note

   A plural-looking word spoken to one person. It is used in direct address, usually at the end of a sentence: I miss you, sweets. The -s adds a playful, pet-name softness, as it does in other affectionate nicknames. It sits in intimate, casual speech alongside sweetheart and is best kept for people you are close to.

4. 4
   nouncountableplural

   Flowers that give off a sweet scent.

   The garden border was planted with sweets whose perfume drifted through the open windows.

   Bees gathered among the sweets blooming along the path in the warm afternoon.

   Note

   A literary plural that names flowers by their fragrance. Its best-known line comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet, where Gertrude scatters flowers on Ophelia's grave with "Sweets to the sweet": the flowers are sweets, and the girl they honor is sweet. Today it reads as poetic. A sentence using it needs a garden, a scent or a vase nearby, or readers will picture candy.

5. 5
   nounslangplural

   Slang for amphetamines; stimulant drugs taken to boost energy and alertness.

   Dealers sold sweets to clubbers looking to dance all night.

   He was caught with a bag of sweets and charged with possession.

   Similarspeed, uppers, amphetamines

   Note

   Street slang for stimulant drugs, especially amphetamine. It hides an illicit meaning behind a harmless nursery word. Like the candy use, it is plural only, so a dealer sells sweets, never a sweet. Because it sounds identical to the everyday word, only the setting signals the drug meaning: clubs, dealers, possession charges. Outside such talk, most listeners will simply hear candy.

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