Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Sourer"

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.


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