SOUR

sour, rancid

(adjective) smelling of fermentation or staleness

dark, dour, glowering, glum, moody, morose, saturnine, sour, sullen

(adjective) 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”

false, off-key, sour

(adjective) inaccurate in pitch; “a false (or sour) note”; “her singing was off key”

sour

(adjective) having a sharp biting taste

off, sour, turned

(adjective) in an unpalatable state; “sour milk”

sour

(adjective) one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons

sourness, sour, acidity

(noun) the property of being acidic

sour, sourness, tartness

(noun) the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth

sour

(noun) a cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar

sour, turn, ferment, work

(verb) go sour or spoil; “The milk has soured”; “The wine worked”; “The cream has turned--we have to throw it out”

sour, acidify, acidulate, acetify

(verb) make sour or more sour

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Adjective

sour (comparative sourer, superlative sourest)

Having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste.

Made rancid by fermentation, etc.

Tasting or smelling rancid.

(of a person's character) Peevish or bad-tempered.

(of soil) Excessively acidic and thus infertile.

(of petroleum) Containing excess sulfur.

Unfortunate or unfavorable.

(music) Off-pitch, out of tune.

Antonyms

• (petroleum): sweet

Noun

sour (countable and uncountable, plural sours)

The sensation of a sour taste.

A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.

(by extension) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.

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

The acidic solution used in souring fabric.

Verb

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

(transitive) To make sour.

(intransitive) To become sour.

(transitive) To spoil or mar; to make disenchanted.

(intransitive) To become disenchanted.

(transitive) To make (soil) cold and unproductive.

To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.

(transitive) To process (fabric) after bleaching, using hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid to wash out the lime.

Anagrams

• Ruso, ours

Source: Wiktionary

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Sour, a. [Compar. Sourer; superl. Sourest.] Etym: [OE. sour, sur, AS. s; akin to D. zuur, G. sauer, OHG. s, Icel. s, 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.

Definition: A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect. Spenser.

Sour, v. t. Etym: [AS. s 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.]

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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