Definitions for: Sour


[n] the property of being acidic
[n] the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth
[n] a cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar
[adj] smelling of fermentation or staleness
[adj] showing a brooding ill humor; "a dark scowl"; "the proverbially dour New England Puritan"; "a glum, hopeless shrug"; "he sat in moody silence"; "a morose and unsociable manner"; "a saturnine, almost misanthropic young genius"- Bruce Bliven; "a sour temper"; "a sullen crowd"
[adj] inaccurate in pitch; "a false (or sour) note"; "her singing was off key"
[adj] one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons
[adj] having a sharp biting taste
[adj] in an unpalatable state; "sour milk"
[v] go sour or spoil; "The milk has soured"; "The wine worked"; "The cream has turned--we have to throw it out"
[v] make sour or more sour



Webster (1913) Definition: Sour, a. [Compar. Sourer; superl. Sourest.] [OE.
sour, sur, AS. s?r; akin to D. zuur, G. sauer, OHG. s?r,
Icel. s?rr, Sw. sur, Dan. suur, Lith. suras salt, Russ.
surovui harsh, rough. Cf. Sorrel, the plant.]
1. Having an acid or sharp, biting taste, like vinegar, and
the juices of most unripe fruits; acid; tart.

All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.
--Bacon.

2. Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or
musty, turned.

3. Disagreeable; unpleasant; hence; cross; crabbed; peevish;
morose; as, a man of a sour temper; a sour reply. ``A sour
countenance.'' --Swift.

He was a scholar . . . Lofty and sour to them that
loved him not, But to those men that sought him
sweet as summer. --Shak.

4. Afflictive; painful. ``Sour adversity.'' --Shak.

5. Cold and unproductive; as, sour land; a sour marsh.

Sour dock (Bot.), sorrel.

Sour gourd (Bot.), the gourdlike fruit {Adansonia
Gregorii}, and A. digitata; also, either of the trees
bearing this fruit. See Adansonia.

Sour grapes. See under Grape.

Sour gum (Bot.) See Turelo.

Sour plum (Bot.), the edible acid fruit of an Australian
tree (Owenia venosa); also, the tree itself, which
furnished a hard reddish wood used by wheelwrights.

Syn: Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious;
crabbed; currish; peevish.


Sour, n.
A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
--Spenser.


Sour, v. t. [AS. s?rian to sour, to become sour.]
1. To cause to become sour; to cause to turn from sweet to
sour; as, exposure to the air sours many substances.

So the sun's heat, with different powers, Ripens the
grape, the liquor sours. --Swift.

2. To make cold and unproductive, as soil. --Mortimer.

3. To make unhappy, uneasy, or less agreeable.

To sour your happiness I must report, The queen is
dead. --Shak.

4. To cause or permit to become harsh or unkindly. ``Souring
his cheeks.'' --Shak.

Pride had not sour'd nor wrath debased my heart.
--Harte.

5. To macerate, and render fit for plaster or mortar; as, to
sour lime for business purposes.


Sour, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Soured; p. pr. & vb. n.
Souring.]
To become sour; to turn from sweet to sour; as, milk soon
sours in hot weather; a kind temper sometimes sours in
adversity.

They keep out melancholy from the virtuous, and hinder
the hatred of vice from souring into severity.
--Addison.

Synonyms: acerb, acerbic, acetify, acetose, acetous, acidic, acidify, acidity, acidulate, acidulated, acidulent, acidulous, astringent, dark, dour, false, ferment, glowering, glum, ill-natured, inharmonious, lemonlike, lemony, malodorous, moody, morose, off, off-key, rancid, saturnine, sharp, sourish, sourness, sourness, subacid, sullen, tangy, tart, tartness, turn, turned, unharmonious, vinegary, work

Antonyms: dulcify, dulcorate, edulcorate, sweet, sweeten

See Also: acerbity, acidity, acidulousness, change state, change taste, cocktail, dry, gustatory perception, gustatory sensation, soured, tartness, taste, taste perception, taste property, taste sensation, tasteful, vinegariness, vinegarishness, whiskey sour, whisky sour

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