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sour |
5 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Sour \Sour\, n. A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect. --Spenser. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Sour \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. 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. ``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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Sour \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. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: sour adj 1: smelling of fermentation or staleness [syn: {rancid}] 2: having a sharp biting taste [ant: {sweet}] 3: one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons 4: in an unpalatable state; "sour milk" [syn: {off}, {turned}] 5: inaccurate in pitch; "a false (or sour) note"; "her singing was off key" [syn: {false}, {off-key}] 6: 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" [syn: {dark}, {dour}, {glowering}, {glum}, {moody}, {morose}, {saturnine}, {sullen}] n 1: a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar 2: the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth [syn: {sourness}, {tartness}] 3: the sharp taste of something acidic (as vinegar or lemon juice) [syn: {sourness}, {acidity}] v 1: go sour or spoil; "The milk has soured" [syn: {turn}, {ferment}] 2: make sour or more sour [syn: {acidify}, {acidulate}, {acetify}] [ant: {sweeten}]
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