Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Sour"

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) 1.7 (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 property of being acidic [syn: {sourness}, {acidity}]
v 1: go sour or spoil; "The milk has soured"; "The wine worked";
"The cream has turned--we have to throw it out" [syn: {turn},
{ferment}, {work}]
2: make sour or more sour [syn: {acidify}, {acidulate}, {acetify}]
[ant: {sweeten}]


Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup

Enter word here:
Exact Approx


dict.stokkie.net
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents; see the Webster Gateway FAQ, and also the Back-end/database links and credits.