▪ I. souring, vbl. n.
(ˈsaʊərɪŋ)
[f. sour v. Cf. Du. zuring souring, sorrel, G. säuer-, säurung souring, NFris. süring leaven.]
1. A substance which renders sour or acid; spec. leaven, lemon-juice, or vinegar. Also fig. Now chiefly dial.
| 14.. Wycliffite Bible 1 Cor. v. 7 As ȝe ben therf, or with⁓oute sour thing [v.r. sowryng]. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. xci. (1779) IV. 91 A double proportion of sowering was visible in his aspect. 1777 ― Humph. Cl. 13 July (1815) 239 Looking at me with a double squeeze of souring in his aspect. 1814 Scott Wav. xxix, Mine host..infused a double portion of souring into the pharisaical leaven of his countenance. 1829 Hunter Hallamshire Gloss. 84 Souring, dough left in the tub from one baking of oat-cakes to another. 1836 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. ii. ix, There's another lemon left, squire, 'spose we mix a little more sourin' afore we turn in. 1841 Hartshorne Salop. Ant. Gloss., Souring, vinegar. |
b. A preparation used in bleaching and tanning.
| 1777 Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 124 In the old method, the tanners made use of sourings brewed generally from rye, or some other grain. |
2. The process or fact of becoming or making sour.
| 1579 Fulke Refut. Rastel 76 He wil haue no wine for feare of sowering. 1662 Merret in Charleton Myst. Vintners (1675) 222 To prevent souring of French Wines. 1673 Boyle Ess. Effluviums ii. 30 Talking with her about the remedies of the Sowring of Beer and other drinks by Thunder. 1743 Lond. & Country Brewer iv. (ed. 2) 280 Though Yeast naturally tends to the sowering of all Drink it is beat into. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 167 That commencement of acetification or souring called foxing. 1886 C. H. Fagge Princ. & Pract. Med. I. 21 The lactic acid fermentation or souring of milk. |
b. fig. with reference to character or temper.
| 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) II. iii. 89 Hazlitt's cynicism is the souring of a generous nature. 1901 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 453 The well-nigh inevitable souring of the dishoused peasant into guerilla or brigand. |
3. spec. The process of subjecting cloth, wool, skins, etc., to the action of diluted acids.
| 1756 F. Home Exper. Bleaching 37 The general process of bleaching divides itself into these different parts. 1. Steeping and milling. 2. Bucking and boiling... 4. Souring. 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. ii. 51 The process of ‘grey souring’, in which the cloth passes through a machine..containing very dilute sulphuric acid. 1882 Crookes Dyeing 7 Next follows souring, known as the ‘lime-sour’, or ‘grey-sour’. |
| attrib. 1756 F. Home Exper. Bleaching 77 The souring process had been going on for two days. Ibid., In the souring vat. 1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 820/1 A souring-well under the souring-box is now filled with water and sulphuric acid. |
4. A sourish variety of apple; dial. a crab-apple.
| 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 59 Fearn's pippin,..Hanwell souring. 1860 R. Hogg Fruit Manual 11 Hanwell Souring... Flesh firm, crisp, and briskly acid. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1075/1 Souring, a country name for the Crab apple. 1896 Warwicksh. Word-bk. 221 Souring, an apple for winter use. |
▪ II. ˈsouring, ppl. a.
[f. sour v.]
That becomes or makes sour.
| 1710 M. Henry Christianity No Sect Wks. 1857 II. 445/1 The leaven of the Pharisees which is both souring and swelling. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. xv, A sour wine, or a souring, for its influence on the mood of those who drank it was to make them gloomy. 1883 Grant White Washington Adams 33 Pleasing and picturesque, and yet souring and doughing. |