sour
UK /ˈsaʊ.ə/ · US /ˈsaʊ.ɚ/ adjective, noun, verb
Forms sourer sourest sours souring soured souredst soureth sower sowre
- adjective Tasting of acidity. “Lemons have a sour taste.”
- adjective Made rancid by fermentation, etc. “Don't drink that milk; it's turned sour.”
- adjective Tasting or smelling rancid. “His sour breath makes it unpleasing to talk to him.”
- adjective (of a person's character) Hostile or unfriendly. “He gave me a sour look.”
- adjective Excessively acidic and thus infertile. (of soil) “sour land”
- adjective Containing excess sulfur. (of petroleum) “sour gas smells like rotten eggs”
- adjective Unfortunate or unfavorable.
- adjective (music) Off-pitch, out of tune.
- noun The sensation of a sour taste.
- noun A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
- noun (by extension) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
- noun A sweet/candy having a sharply sour taste.
- noun A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
- noun The acidic solution used in souring fabric.
- verb (transitive) To make sour. “Too much lemon juice will sour the recipe.”
- verb (intransitive) To become sour.
- verb (transitive) To spoil or mar; to make disenchanted.
- verb (intransitive) To become disenchanted. “We broke up after our relationship soured.”
- verb (transitive) To make (soil) cold and unproductive.
- verb To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.
Synonyms
acetose acetous acid acidulent tart sourness tartness acidity turn ferment work acidify acidulate acetify rancid off turned false off-key dark dour glowering glum moody morose saturnine sullen
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”).
Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sur (“sour”), French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”),
Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Having an acid or sharp, biting taste, like vinegar, and the juices of most unripe fruits; acid; tart.
- adjective Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or musty, turned.
- noun A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
- verb To cause to become sour; to cause to turn from sweet to sour; as, exposure to the air sours many substances.
Etymology [OE. sour, sur, AS. s; akin to D. zuur, G. sauer, OHG. s, Icel. s, Sw. sur, Dan. suur, Lith. suras salt, Russ. surovui harsh, rough. Cf. Sorrel, the plant.]
Etymology [AS. s to sour, to become sour.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sour”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details