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Webster 1913 Edition

Sour

Sour

,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Sourer
;
sup
erl.
Sourest
.]
[OE.
sour
,
sur
, AS.
s[GREEK]r
; akin to D.
zuur
, G.
sauer
, OHG.
s[GREEK]r
, Icel.
s[GREEK]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.
Shakespeare
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
Adansonia 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

,
Noun.
A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
Spenser.

Sour

,
Verb.
T.
[AS.
s[GREEK]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.
Shakespeare
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

,
Verb.
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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Sour

SOUR

,
Adj.
1.
Acid; having a pungent taste; sharp to the taste; tart; as, vinegar is sour; sour cider; sour beer.
2.
Acid and austere or astringent; as, sunripe fruits are often sour.
3.
Harsh of temper; crabbed; peevish; austere; morose; as a man of a sour temper.
4.
Afflictive; as sour adversities. [Not in use.]
5.
Expressing discontent or peevishness. He never uttered a sour word. The lord treasurer often looked on me with a sour countenance.
6.
Harsh to the feelings; cold and damp; as sour weather.
7.
Rancid; musty.
8.
Turned, as milk; coagulated.

SOUR

,
Noun.
An acid substance.

SOUR

, v.t.
1.
To make acid; to cause to have a sharp taste. So the sun's heat, with different pow'rs, ripens the grape, the liquor sours.
2.
To make harsh, cold or unkindly. Tufts of grass sour land.
3.
To make harsh in temper; to make cross, crabbed, peevish or discontented. Misfortunes often sour'd, nor wrath debas'd my heart.
4.
To make uneasy or less agreeable. Hail, great king! To sour your happiness I must report the queen is dead.
5.
In rural economy, to macerate, as lime, and render fir for plaster or mortar.

SOUR

, v.i.
1.
To become acid; to acquire the quality of tartness or pungency to the taste. Cider sours rapidly in the rays of the sun. When food sours in the stomach, it is evidence of imperfect digestion.
2.
TO become peevish or crabbed. They hinder the hatred of vice from souring into severity.

Definition 2024

sour

sour

See also: sour-

English

Alternative forms

  • (obsolete) sowr

Adjective

sour ‎(comparative sourer, superlative sourest)

  1. Having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste.
    Lemons have a sour taste.‎
    • Francis Bacon
      All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.
  2. Made rancid by fermentation, etc.
    sour milk‎
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  3. Tasting or smelling rancid.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  4. Peevish or bad-tempered.
    He gave me a sour look.‎
    • Shakespeare
      He was a scholar […] / Lofty and sour to them that loved him not, / But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
  5. (of soil) Excessively acidic and thus infertile.
    sour land‎
    a sour marsh‎
  6. (of petroleum) Containing excess sulfur.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  7. Unfortunate or unfavorable.
    • Shakespeare
      sour adversity
    • 2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:
      The result may not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.
  8. (music) Off-pitch, out of tune.
    • 2010, Aniruddh D. Patel, Music, Language, and the Brain, page 201:
      Unlike what the name implies, there is nothing inherently wrong with a sour note: It is perfectly well-tuned note that would sound normal in another context (and which presumably would not sound sour to someone unfamiliar with tonal music).

Translations

Noun

sour ‎(countable and uncountable, plural sours)

  1. The sensation of a sour taste.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  2. A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  3. (by extension) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
  4. A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

Derived terms

  • laundry sour

Translations

Verb

sour ‎(third-person singular simple present sours, present participle souring, simple past and past participle soured)

  1. (transitive) To make sour.
    Too much lemon juice will sour the recipe.‎
  2. (intransitive) To become sour.
    • Jonathan Swift
      So the sun's heat, with different powers, / Ripens the grape, the liquor sours.
  3. (transitive) To make disenchanted.
    • Shakespeare
      To sour your happiness I must report, / The queen is dead.
  4. (intransitive) To become disenchanted.
    We broke up after our relationship soured.‎
  5. (transitive) To make (soil) cold and unproductive.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Mortimer to this entry?)
  6. To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.

Translations

Anagrams

French

Adjective

sour m ‎(feminine singular soure, masculine plural sours, feminine plural soures)

  1. Eye dialect spelling of sûr.

Preposition

sour

  1. Eye dialect spelling of sur.

Romansch

Alternative forms

  • (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) sora

Etymology

From Latin soror, from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr.

Noun

sour f (plural sours)

  1. (Puter, Vallader) sister

Coordinate terms

  • (in terms of gender):
    • (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Vallader) frar
    • (Puter) frer

Etymology

From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr ‎(“sour”), from Proto-Germanic *sūraz ‎(“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūr- ‎(“sour (milk)”). Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur ‎(“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer ‎(“sour”), Danish and Swedish sur ‎(“sour”), French sur ‎(“sour”), Faroese súrur ‎(“sour”), Icelandic súr ‎(“sour, bitter”).

Pronunciation

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