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Meaning of SOUR

Pronunciation:  sawr

WordNet Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. [n]  the property of being acidic
  2. [n]  the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth
  3. [n]  a cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar
  4. [adj]  smelling of fermentation or staleness
  5. [adj]  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"
  6. [adj]  inaccurate in pitch; "a false (or sour) note"; "her singing was off key"
  7. [adj]  one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons
  8. [adj]  having a sharp biting taste
  9. [adj]  in an unpalatable state; "sour milk"
  10. [v]  go sour or spoil; "The milk has soured"; "The wine worked"; "The cream has turned--we have to throw it out"
  11. [v]  make sour or more sour
 
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 Synonyms: acerb, acerbic, acetify, acetose, acetous, acidic, acidify, acidity, acidulate, acidulated, acidulent, acidulous, astringent, dark, dour, false, ferment, glowering, glum, ill-natured, inharmonious, lemonlike, lemony, malodorous, moody, morose, off, off-key, rancid, saturnine, sharp, sourish, sourness, sourness, subacid, sullen, tangy, tart, tartness, turn, turned, unharmonious, vinegary, work
 
 Antonyms: dulcify, dulcorate, edulcorate, sweet, sweeten
 
 See Also: acerbity, acidity, acidulousness, change state, change taste, cocktail, dry, gustatory perception, gustatory sensation, soured, tartness, taste, taste perception, taste property, taste sensation, tasteful, vinegariness, vinegarishness, whiskey sour, whisky sour

 

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. \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.

  2. \Sour\, n.
A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
--Spenser.

  3. \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.

  4. \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.
 
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