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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

4 entries under this word

Sour

Sour, a.

adjective

a. [compar. SOURER; superl. SOUREST.] [A-S., L. Ger., O. H. Ger., Icel., & Sw. sūr, Dan. suur, D. zuur, N. H. Ger. sauer; W. & Armor. sur, Fr. sur. Cf. SORREL, n.]

  1. Having a pungent taste; sharp to the taste; tart; acid; as, vinegar is sour; sour cider; sour beer.
  2. Turned or coagulated, as milk; rancid; musty.
  3. Harsh of temper; crabbed; peevish; austere; morose; as, a man of a sour temper.
  4. Disagreeable to the feelings; producing discontent; hard to bear; bitter.

Let me embrace these sour adversities. Shak. 5. Expressing discontent or peevishness. The lord treasurer often looked on me with a sour countenance. Swift. Syn.—Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious; crabbed; dogged; currish; peevish.

Sour, n.

noun

n. A sour or acid substance; an acid. Spenser.

Sour, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. SOURED; p. pr. & vb. n. SOURING.] [A-S. sūrian, to sour, to become sour.]

Sense 1. To make acid; to cause to have a sharp taste.

*So the sun’s heat, with different powers, Ripens the grape, the liquor sours.* Swift.

Sense 2. To make harsh, cold, or unkindly.

Tufts of grass sour land. Mortimer.

Sense 3. To make harsh in temper; to make cross, crabbed, peevish, or discontented. “A soured, gloomy, miserable man.” Coleridge.

Pride had not soured, nor wrath debased my heart. Harte.

Sense 4. To make unhappy, uneasy, or less agreeable.

*Hail, great king! To sour your happiness I must report, The queen is dead.* Shak.

Sense 5. To macerate, as lime, and render fit for plaster or mortar.

Sour, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To become acid; to acquire the quality of tartness or pungency to the taste.

Sense 2. To become peevish or crabbed.

They hinder the hatred of vice from souring into severity. Addison.