Sourer

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.


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              All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.
                                                    --Bacon.
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     2. Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or
        musty, turned.
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     3. Disagreeable; unpleasant; hence; cross; crabbed; peevish;
        morose; as, a man of a sour temper; a sour reply. "A sour
        countenance." --Swift.
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              He was a scholar . . .
              Lofty and sour to them that loved him not,
              But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
                                                    --Shak.
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     4. Afflictive; painful. "Sour adversity." --Shak.
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     5. Cold and unproductive; as, sour land; a sour marsh.
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     {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.
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     Syn: Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious;
          crabbed; currish; peevish.
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