Forms: 1–4 bitre, bittre, bitere, 4 bittere, byttere, 2– bitter. [OE. bitere, bitre, f. BITTER a. with which it is now identified in form.] = BITTERLY: arch., poet. and dial.
971. Blickl. Hom., 195. Hit weorþeþ þe swiþe bitere forʓolden.
a. 1300. Sarmun, xxxvii. in E. E. P. (1862), 5. Þou salt hit rew bitter and sore.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVII. 220. The biterour he shal a-bygge bote yf he [wel] worche.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. i. 7. ’Tis bitter cold, And I am sicke at heart.
1721. Cibber, Doub. Gallant, I. Sp. 63. [A servant says] ‘my Lady’s bitter young and gamesome.’
1824. Campbell, Wound. Hussar. How bitter she wept o’er the victim of war!
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, viii. 73. [A butler says] ‘This drug is wanted bitter bad, sir.’
