Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Eglantine \Eg"lan*tine\, n. [F. ['e]glantine, 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}).

   Note: Milton, in the following lines, has applied the name to
         some twinning 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.