English Dictionary: Sourer | by the DICT Development Group |
1 result for Sourer | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Sour \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. [bd]A sour countenance.[b8] --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. [bd]Sour adversity.[b8] --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. |