sour Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar
  2. noun the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth
    tartness; sourness.
  3. noun the property of being acidic
    acidity; sourness.
  4. verb go sour or spoil
    ferment; turn; work.
    • The milk has soured
    • The wine worked
    • The cream has turned--we have to throw it out
  5. verb make sour or more sour
    acidify; acetify; acidulate.
  6. adjective satellite smelling of fermentation or staleness
    rancid.
  7. adjective having a sharp biting taste
  8. adjective satellite one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons
  9. adjective satellite in an unpalatable state
    turned; off.
    • sour milk
  10. adjective satellite inaccurate in pitch
    off-key; false.
    • a false (or sour) note
    • her singing was off key
  11. adjective satellite showing a brooding ill humor
    saturnine; dour; morose; dark; glum; glowering; sullen; moody.
    • 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

WordNet

Sour adjective
Etymology
OE. sour, sur, AS. sr; akin to D. zuur, G. sauer, OHG. sr, Icel. srr, Sw. sur, Dan. suur, Lith. suras salt, Russ. surovui harsh, rough. Cf. Sorrel, the plant.
Wordforms
comparative Sourer ; superlative Sourest
Definitions
  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. Syn. -- Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious; crabbed; currish; peevish.
Sour noun
Definitions
  1. A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect. Spenser.
Sour transitive verb
Etymology
AS. srian to sour, to become sour.
Definitions
  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 intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Soured ; present participle & verbal noun Souring
Definitions
  1. 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.

Webster 1913