verjuice, n.
(ˈvɜːdʒuːs)
Forms: α. 4–5 verious, 5 veryous, -yose, -ius(e, -iuys, -jusse, -iowce (vere jouse), 6 werius, verioyce, -juce (verdjuice), 6–7 veriuice, -iuce, -iuyce, 7 verjuyce, -juce, -jus, 7– verjuice. β. 4 vergws, 5 wergoys, 6 vergus, -uys; 4 vergieux, 4–6 -eous, 6 -ews, -eus, 5 vergyous, 6 -ious, -yus, -ius (4 verdius, 5 vertious). γ. 5 vergys, 5–7 vergis, 6–7 verges, 6 werges, vergesse, -i(e)sse, 7 verdges; 6 warges, 6–7, 9 dial. varges, 7, 9 dial. vargis.
[a. OF. vertjus, verjus, vergus, etc. (mod.F. verjus), f. vert green, unripe + jus juice.]
1. The acid juice of green or unripe grapes, crab-apples, or other sour fruit, expressed and formed into a liquor; formerly much used in cooking, as a condiment, or for medicinal purposes. Also in comparisons as, as sour (bitter, tart, etc.) as verjuice.
| α 1302–3 Ely Sacr. Rolls (1907) II. 18 Pro j barillo ad verious. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 619 Viridis succus, veriuys. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 508/2 Veriowce, sawce, agresta. 1450–80 tr. Secreta Secret. 33 Make him drynke of verious and watir. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xii. 236 A calf lyuer skorde with the veryose; Good sawse. This is a restorete To make a good appete. 1534 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 187 A brake to make verioyce with. 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1560) B iv b, The juce of Purcelane, of Plantaine, and verjuce of grape, or crabbes. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 71 Crabs after the veriuice is expressed from them. 1626 Middleton Women Beware Wom. iii. iii, Having a crabbed face of her own, she'll eat the less verjuice with her mutton. 1657 Trapp Comm. Ezra vi. 13 II. 22 Their obedience was wrung out of them, as verjuice is out of a crab. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. ii. 124 The good Effects of Vinegar, Verjuice, Spirits of Wine, in Sprains. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory (ed. 6) I. 343 Beat pumice stones to an impalpable powder, and mix up with verjuice. 1853 Royle Mat. Med. (ed. 2) 358 When unripe the fruit is remarkable for the harsh acidity of its juice, which is then called verjuice. 1881 Harper's Mag. LXIII. 266 To distort the face as if one were quaffing verjuice. |
| fig. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 80 They must have veriuice that will squeese such crabbes. 1624 Middleton Game at Chess v. iii, 'S foot this Fat Bishop hath..so squelch'd and squeez'd me, I've no verjuice left in me. 1662 Hibbert Body Div. i. 269 Take heed of matching with one of the daughters of Heth; he that graffs into a crab-stock, is like never to want verjuice. |
| β 1349–50 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 551 In xvj lag. de vergeous. 1392 Earl Derby's Exped. (Camden) 155 Et pro viij galonibus vergws. a 1400 Leg. Holy Rood viii. 175 Ȝit Moyses in Rule haþ rad, We schulde ete vr lomb in sour vergeous. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. cxlvii. (1869) 134, I serue of vinegre and of vergeous, and of greynes þat ben soure. c 1440 Douce MS. 55 fol. 7 Then take..a quantite of vertious & saffron & salte & cast ther to. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 23 A barell with wergoys, and a botel for wynne. 1513 W. de Worde Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. 278 It ought for to be eten with grene garlyke, or with sorell, or tender vynes, or vergyus in somer season. 1558 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. (1568) 65 b, Boile it in iii glasses full of good vergeous or whyte wyne. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 57 Some adde thereunto Vergius, or the iuyce of soure Grapes, to make the taste more tarte. |
| γ 1412–3 Abingdon Acc. (Camden) 75 De vuis..pro vergis inde fact'. c 1518 Skelton Magnyf. 1779 Somtyme, parde, I must vse largesse. Ye, mary, somtyme in a messe of vergesse. 1527 Luton Trin. Guild (1906) 186 Payd..for j galone of wargis. 1557 Lanc. & Chesh. Wills (Chetham Soc. 1884) 64, ij barrells to keepe varges in. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 53 Be sure of vergis..so good for the kitchen. 1610 Markham Masterp. i. lxxi. 148 You shall then onely giue it a pint of strong verdges to drinke. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Begger Wks. i. 97/2 And for a Sauce he seldom is at Charges, For euery Crabtree, doth affoord him Vergis. 1639 O. Wood Alph. Bk. Secrets 102 Make a posset of Varges or Vinigar and Milke, bath the joynt very hot therewith. 1837 Hood Ode to Dr. Hahnemann 38 A drop of ‘varges’. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. 375 As sour as vargis. 1904 E. Step Wayside & Woodland Trees 103 Cyder is made from the rotting Crabs; also a kind of vinegar called verjuice or vargis. |
† b. In
fig. phrases
to crowd,
crush,
squeeze to verjuice.
Obs.| 1605 Tryall Chev. ii. i. in Bullen Old Pl. (1884) III. 289 And that sowre crab do but leere at thee I shall squeeze him to Vargis. 1621 Fletcher Isl. Princess iii. i, They love a man that crushes 'em to verjuce. a 1625 ― Wife for Month ii. i, They have crowded me to Vergis, I sweat like a butter⁓box. |
2. In
fig. use, with reference to the characteristic acidity or sourness of verjuice.
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 39 Oh how the varges from his blacke pen wrung, Would sauce the Idiome of the English tongue. Ibid. 65 To mittigate The sharp tart veriuice of his snap-haunce hate. 1626 B. Jonson Staple of N. v. i, Hang him, an austere grape, That has no iuice, but what is veriuice in him. 1685 Crowne Sir C. Nice i, The Devil of Envy suck'd it all out, and left verjuice in the roome. 1759 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1862) 543 To be sure there must be an infinite deal of verjuice in her composition! 1791 J. Wolcot (P. Pindar) Rights of Kings xviii. Wks. 1816 II. 209 The heart should be a medlar, not a crab; Milk, and not Verjuice, from its fount should flow. 1825 Scott Betrothed xxii, Raoul, glancing towards her a look of verjuice [etc.]. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. ii. xi, Miss Budd, although she said nothing, looked vinegar and verjuice. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets iv. 101 The temper of his proposed son-in-law was a mixture of gall, wormwood, vinegar, verjuice, vitriol and nitric acid. |
3. attrib. or as adj. a. Simple
attrib., as
verjuice barrel,
verjuice bottle,
verjuice brake,
verjuice house,
verjuice sauce,
verjuice tub,
verjuice vessel.
| 1432 E.E. Wills (1882) 91 A vergyous barell. c 1450 Two Cookery Bks. 103 The sauce is vergyus sauce or sauce ginger. 1516–7 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 106 Pro ostiis le Weriushouse. 1551–60 in Hall Eliz. Soc. (1887) 150 A verguys tubbe. 1578 Knaresb. Wills (Surtees) I. 134 In the buttrie..a kitt, a vergious brake. 1588 Lanc. & Chesh. Wills (Chetham Soc. 1893) 150, ij kneadinge tubes, iij cheises, ij verges barrells. 1629 Inv. Househ. Goods in Trans. Essex Archæol. Soc. III. ii. 161 In the West Larder..8 vergis vessells. |
b. Passing into
adj. in the sense of ‘bitter, sour, sour-looking’, as
verjuice countenance,
verjuice face,
verjuice wit.
| 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie To Iudiciall Perusers, I dare defend my plainenesse against the veriuice-face of the Crabbedst Satyrist that euer stuttered. 1613 Heywood Brazen Age ii. iii, She scarce will let me kisse her, But shee makes vergisse faces. 1632 Brome Court Beggar ii. i, Thou hast a verjuice wit. 1823 Scott Peveril vii, A verjuice countenance..is no such temptation. 1853 Hickie tr. Aristoph. (1887) I. 12 You bear the basket prettily, with a verjuice face. |
† c. verjuice grape, one or other variety of grape suitable for the making of verjuice (
cf. quot. 1725 and F.
verjus a sour or green grape).
Obs.| 1648 Hexham ii, Verjuys-besien, Verjus or Sowre grapes. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xxv, The great red grapes, the muscadine, the verjuice grape. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. Sept. 74 The Verjuyce-grape excellent for sauce, &c. 1706 London & Wise Retir'd Gard. I. xi. 52 Having planted your Trees, you ought..to set some Chasselas, or Verjuice Grapes, about your Squares. 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v., There are three sorts of Grapes to which they properly give the Name of Verjuice, viz. the Gouais, Farineus, and Bourdelas, otherwise le Grey; and 'tis from these three that they commonly press Verjuice. |
Hence
ˈverjuice v. trans., to embitter, make sour;
ˈverjuiced ppl. a.| 1836 W. H. Maxwell Capt. Blake xv, The maid was a verjuiced spinster. 1848 Lowell Fable for Critics (1865) 217 His sermons with satire are plenteously verjuiced. 1892 W. G. Thorpe Still Life Mid. Temple 3 Sir John Key, where the inherent rhyme to ‘donkey’ verjuiced the baronetcy. |