Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.
\Sour\, n. A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect. --Spenser.
\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.
\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.