Eg"lan*tine (?), n. [F.
églantine, fr. OF. aiglent brier, hip tree, fr.
(assumed) LL. acuculentus, fr. a dim. of L. acus
needle; cf. F. aiguille needle. Cf. Aglet.]
(Bot.) (a) A species of rose (Rosa
Eglanteria), with fragrant foliage and flowers of various
colors. (b) The sweetbrier (R.
rubiginosa).
&fist; Milton, in the following lines, has applied the name to
some twining plant, perhaps the honeysuckle.
Through the sweetbrier, or the vine,
Or the twisted eglantine.
L'Allegro,
47.
"In our early writers and in Gerarde and the herbalists, it was a
shrub with white flowers." Dr. Prior.