▪ I. sour, a. and n.1
(saʊə(r))
Forms: 1–4 sur (5 sur-), 3–4 sure, 4–8 soure (4 zoure), 4– sour; 4–8 sowr(e, sower (5 sowyr, 7 shoowre), 9 Sc. soor.
[Common Teut.: OE. s{uacu}r, = OFris. sûr (mod.Fris. sûr, sür), MDu. suur, suer, soer (Du. zuur), OS. (MLG., LG.), OHG. (MHG.) sûr (G. sauer), ON. s{uacu}rr (Norw., Sw., Da. sur), related to Lett. s{uacu}rs bitter, saltish, unpleasant, Lith. s{uacu}ras saltish, OSlav. syrŭ (Russ. sȳroĭ) moist, raw (Russ. surovȳĭ raw, coarse): the ultimate origin is uncertain. The Germanic word is the source of F. sur (12th cent.), whence surelle sorrel n.1
The leading senses of the English word are also prominent in most of the cognate languages.]
A. adj. I. 1. a. Having a tart or acid taste, such as that which is characteristic of unripe fruits and vinegar. Also said of taste. (Opposed to sweet, and distinguished from bitter.)
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 132 Ᵹenim surne æppel..& leᵹe on. Ibid. III. 212 Winberian sure ᵹeseon, sace ᵹetacnað. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 129 Þet ðet weter of egypte wes liðe and swete þan folce of israel þe wes sur and bitere..þon monnen of þan londe. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xlii. 114 Ase fele sythe..As sterres beth in welkne, ant grases sour ant suete. 1340 Ayenb. 82 More hi uynt smak in ane zoure epple þanne ine ane huetene lhoue. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 72 Þanne bereth þe croppe kynde fruite,..swete with-oute swellyng, soure worth it neuere. c 1460 Promp. Parv. (Winch.), Eggyde, as teth ffor sowr ffrute. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iv. i, [The fox] sayd these raysyns ben sowre. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 82 The smokes sowre Of Proserpinas bowre. 1558 Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. xi. 64 They also dyd eate the lambe with wylde and sowre lettes. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 57 The wylde sortes are both sowrer in taste, and smaller in leafe. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 306 Add some few drops of oyl Vitriol, to make it some what sower in tast. 1666 Boyle Orig. Forms & Qual. 314 Each of them far more salt then Brine, or more sowr then the strongest Vinegar. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. ii. 305 The woods produced sweet and sower oranges. 1799 W. Tooke View Russian Emp. I. 288 Of proper sour waters which are applied to medicinal purposes. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 423 These are substances which have a sour taste. 1836–41 Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 370 Chloric acid is a sour liquid. |
b. transf. Producing tart or acid fruit.
| a 1000 in Birch Cartul. Sax. I. 229 A dune on stream of ða suran apældran. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xi. 207 Shal neuere good appel Þorw no sotel science on sour stock growe. 1560 Pilkington Expos. Aggeus (1562) 297 The soure crabtree makes the crabbes bitter, and not the crabbes make the tree evyll. 1687 [see next (b)]. 1865 C. F. Browne Artemus Ward: his Travels 151 A Vigilance Committee, which hangs the more vicious of the pestiferous crowd to a sour apple-tree. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 160 We'll hang Joe Chamberlain on a sourapple tree. |
c. In figurative or allusive uses;
freq. in connexion with
sauce (
cf. sauce n. 1 b).
| (a) 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 43 Ac her sauce was ouer soure & vnsauourely grounde, In a morter..of many bitter peyne. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxvii. 19 Off quhais subchettis sour is the sals. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 20 These soure sauces he tasted as a penaunce for his wanton liuyng. 1626 R. Peeke Three to One C j, Thus farre, my Voyage for Oranges sped well, but in the end, prooued sower Sawce to me. a 1660 Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) II. 42 Witty speeches loose theire rellish when they are ouerseasoned with the sowre sawce of reprehension. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v. Sweet, He has given me sweet Meat, but sowr Sauce, (Prov.). |
| (b) 1415 Hoccleve Sir J. Oldcastle 292 Thogh it seeme sour To the taast of your detestable errour. 1525 Tindale Expos. (Parker Soc.) 234 Nothing is so sweet that they make not sour with their traditions. c 1625 Davenport K. John & Matilda iii. ii, The sower sweetnesse of a deluded minute. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. i. 15 Their doctrines may taste too sour of the cask they come through. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. 11, To be tied to the sowr Apple-tree, for to have an ill Husband. 1720 Ramsay Wealth 142 If not, fox-like, I'll..ca' your hundred thousand a sour plum. 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. 186 It is a soure Reek, where the good Wife dings the good Man. 1785 Burns Twa Herds v, Nae poisoned sour Arminian stank He let them taste. |
2. a. Rendered acid by fermentation or similar processes; fermented; affected or spoiled in this way by being kept or exposed too long.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 34 Ᵹenim þa readan hofan, awyl on surum swatum oþþe on surum ealað. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 129 Oxygala, sur meolc. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 167 And thus of that thei brewe soure I drinke swete. c 1425 Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 659 Seruicia acerba, sowre ale. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 466/2 Sowre, as dowe, fermentatus. c 1480 Henryson Test. Cres. 441 For waillit Wyne and Meitis thou had tho, Tak mowlit Breid, Peirrie, and Ceder sour. 1508 Dunbar Poems v. 30 To get hir ane fresche drink, þe aill of hevin wes sour. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xviii. (1634) 713 As with leaven scattered among it, the whole lumpe of dough waxeth sower. 1669 Boyle Contn. New Exp. ii. (1682) 168 This Experiment seems to teach us, that Liquors may grow sowre, though no spirits have evaporated from them. 1691 Ray N.C. Words (ed. 2) 137 Sower-milk, Butter-milk. Sower from its long standing. 1764 Ann. Reg. ii. 11 They throw the fresh caviar into it, and leave it there to grow sour. 1826 Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 32 It cannot recover itself, but remains sickly, and becomes sour. 1884 Girl's Own Paper 4 Oct. 4/2 The great duty..of the girls..in Mongolia is to milk the cattle..and work up the milk into..sour-cheese, butter, and whisky. |
| Comb. 1661 Extr. Rec. Glasgow (Burgh Recs.) 465 The sour milk mercat, quhilk is now keeped at the croce. |
b. fig. or in
fig. context. Esp. in
to go (or turn) sour (on a person).
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter Prol., O wondirful suetnes, þe whilk waxis noght soure thurgh þe corupciouns of þis warld. 1611 Bible Hosea iv. 18 Ephraim is ioyned to idoles:..Their drinke is sowre. 1641 [see leaven n. 2 a]. 1686 tr. Lemery's Course Chem. (ed. 2) Ep. Ded., The sowre Leaven of Intestine Rebellion. 1799 [see leaven n. 2 a]. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. iv. ii, General Dumouriez..finds all in sour heat of darkness. 1928 Daily Tel. 20 Mar. 11/5 Sir Victor Sassoon..advised the House to pass the bill, as there was a danger of the Government, in racing parlance, ‘going sour’. 1952 C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Aeneid ix. 194 Let only my luck stay good And not turn sour on me. 1957 A. Macnab Bulls of Iberia xv. 214 He cannot afford to ease up in one or two bulls, or the whole afternoon may go sour on him. 1964 L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence 50 What is a cynic but a romanticist turned sour? 1971 A. Sampson New Anatomy of Britain 278 It is at the meetings with Treasury men that so many political ideals have been defeated, so many bold promises gone sour. 1981 P. Niesewand Word of Gentleman i. 14 Moorhouse and his party had wiped the floor with the opposition... Then suddenly everything went sour. |
c. Of smell. Also
fig.| c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 657 Of herbes and tres comes swete savour, And of þe comes wlatsome stynk, and sour. 1530 Palsgr. 325/1 Sower of smellyng, sur. 1843 Sir C. Scudamore Med. Visit Grafenberg 48 A strong sour smell, like mellow apples. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 12 Of the sour smell about rheumatic patients there can be no doubt. |
d. Of breath, eructations, etc.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens 239 The wambling of the stomacke, and the sower belkes whiche come from the same. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 331 That makes amends for her soure breath. 1607 [? Brewer] Lingua iv. iv, Sweet ointment for sowre teeth. 1619 Fletcher, etc. Knt. Malta iii. ii, Whose husband Tax'd for his sowre breath by his enemy, Condemn'd his wife, for not acquainting him With his infirmity. |
3. a. Of land, etc.: Cold and wet; uncongenial through retaining stagnant moisture.
| 1532 G. Hervet tr. Xenophon's Treat. Househ. (1768) 76 What remedy is there, if the grounde be to weete to sowe in it, or to soure to set trees in it? 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 84 Some breaking vp laie soweth otes to begin, to suck out the moisture so sower therein. 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. i. Vocation 107 Like some rare Fruit-Tree over-topt with spight Of Briers and Bushes which it sore oppresse With the sowr shadow of their thorny tresse. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 241 There is another sort of ground in this County which they call Sour-land. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 63 In Oxfordshire..they give their sour Land a tilt, according to the State and Condition of their Lands. 1759 Mills tr. Duhamel's Husb. i. viii. (1762) 45 The ground underneath must be of a most cold and sour nature. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 613 Salt..sweetens sour pastures. 1858 Glenny Everyday Bk. 189/2 The sour soil that they have been growing in. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 641 Other vast tracts of it are miserably poor sour, sandy clay. |
| fig. 1638 Sanderson Serm. (1681) 109 The heart of man is a sowre piece of clay. |
| transf. 1859 Meredith R. Feverel ii, In a country of sour pools, yellow brooks, rank pasturage, desolate heath. |
b. Of pasture: Having a harsh, unpleasant taste; coarse, rank. Now
dial.| 1654 in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 535 The grass must be mown if it be too sour and long for them. 1673 Ray Journ. Low Co. 148 The very Grass which grows under the Trees is sowr and crude. 1828 Carr Craven Gloss., Sour, coarse, harsh, applied to grass, which grows on wet land. 1881 Evans Leicestersh. Words, Sour,..as applied to herbage, rank and bitter. |
c. Of wood, etc.: Green. Now
local.
| c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 910 Sall neuer of sa sour ane brand ane bricht fyre be brocht. 1866 J. E. Brogden Prov. Lincs., Sour, green. The hay is too sour to lead. |
4. Of petroleum, natural gas, etc.: containing a relatively high proportion of sulphur. Opp.
sweet.
| 1919 E. W. Dean Motor Gasoline Properties (U.S. Bureau of Mines Techn. Paper No. 214) 24 There is a possibility that gasoline ‘sour’ to the doctor test may have been the cause of certain reported corrosion of metal parts of carburetors. 1925 Petroleum Age 1 Jan. 16/2 Sour oils also have a distinctively unpleasant odor which is absent in sweet oils. 1936 W. L. Nelson Petroleum Refinery Engin. xxiv. 527 For ‘sour’ sulfur-bearing light distillates, the doctor treatment must be used. 1967 Wall St. Jrnl. 31 Jan. 32/2 Recovery of elemental sulphur from ‘sour’ gas is expected to materially increase available supplies. 1979 Economist 11 Aug. 67/1 There is a sour gas formation under the country's best oil field, Yibal. |
II. 5. a. Extremely distasteful or disagreeable; bitter, unpleasant.
| c 1200 Ormin 15208 Forr pine iss sur & biteþþ wiþþ & cwennkeþþ erþliȝ kinde. a 1250 Owl & Night. 866 Þat him beo sur þat er was swete, Þar to ich helpe, god hit wot. c 1315 Shoreham iv. 422 And her-by þou myȝt, man, y-seo hou here ende hys sour. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 250 Al though it be soure to suffre, þere cometh swete after. Ibid. xx. 46, I mote nede abyde, And suffre sorwes ful sowre þat shal to ioye tourne. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxx. (Percy Soc.) 148 To have release of your great paynes sower. 1576 G. Pettie Petite Pallace (1908) I. 45 This life hath been most loathsome and sour vnto me. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 439 These prosperous beginnings brought forth sowre ends. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxv. 133 When they are for Execution of soure labour. 1701 Collier M. Aurel. (1726) 302 If so, he has given himself a sour box on the ear. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. iii. i, That sweet Federation was of last year; this sour Divulsion is the selfsame substance. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit. Wks. (Bohn) III. 3 Michael Angelo had a sad, sour time of it. |
b. Of music: out of tune.
| [1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. iv. 42 How sowre sweet Musicke is, When Time is broke, and no Proportion kept?] 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 48/2 Sour, out-of-tune playing. 1976 Gramophone Feb. 1356/1 String tone is wirey, even a bit sour in the G minor, especially during loud passages. |
6. a. Having a harsh, morose, or peevish disposition; sullen, austere; gloomy, discontented, embittered.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 114 Grucchunge of bitter & of sur heorte. 1530 Palsgr. 325/1 Sower, cursed or shrewde as a woman is that lowreth, malgracieux. 1592 Fleming Contn. of Holinshed III. 1360 The one of nature affable, the other altogither sowre. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Ephes. iv. 30 2 And art thou grieved..When I am sowre, And crosse thy love? 1663 S. Patrick Parab. Pilgrim (1687) 478 Do not follow your Saviour with a sowre heart, dejected looks, and faln wings. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 89 ¶8 Don't think me a sour Man, for I love Conversation and my Friends. 1779 Mirror No. 61, It is not the melancholy of a sour, unsocial being. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. vi. iii, Men's humour is of the sourest. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 172 His temper was sour, arrogant, and impatient of opposition. 1874 Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece iii. 65 We might almost imagine that some sour Attic editor had expunged the advice. |
| absol. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus xxvii. 6 But dull water, avaunt... Seek the sour, the solemn! |
b. Const.
upon (a person).
rare—1.
| 1621–31 Laud Serm. (1847) 179 ‘Keep unity,’ then, and be sour..upon any that shall endeavour to break it. |
7. Displaying, expressing, or implying displeasure or discontent; peevish, cross:
a. Of looks, etc.
| c 1440 Alph. Tales 1 With a sowr cowntenance and a froward luke. 1530 Palsgr. 225/2 Glumme, a sower loke. 1598 Marston Sco. Villanie iii. ix. 217 Grim-fac't Reproofe,..Bend thy sower browes in my tart poesie. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. State iv. xix. 339 His little eyes can cast a soure glance. 1720 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) VII. 186 He..from his sower Looks is commonly called Vinegar Jones. 1750 Gray Long Story 106 Sour visages, enough to scare ye. 1807 J. Barlow Columb. i. 103 Dissembling friends..Now pass my cell with smiles of sour disdain. 1833 H. Martineau Brooke Farm iii. 29 The sour looks with which the strangers were regarded. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 73 A woman with a sour countenance but rather handsome features. |
b. Of words, discourse, opinions, etc.
| a 1557 M. Basset tr. More's Treat. Passion M.'s Wks. 1384/1 With sweete and sower wordes to laboure..to make good men of badde. 1594 J. Dickenson Arisbas (1878) 28 To shield me..from the sowre censures of the ouer-curious Moralists of our age. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. (1634) 81 Nicias and his companions had a sowre message to deliver at Sparta. 1663 J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 17 That Historian, whom we shall easily perceive not more leavened in mind or writing with this kind of sowrer Superstition. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 54 ¶1 He said a sour Thing to Laura at Dinner the other Day; upon which she burst into Tears. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. lx. (1806) IV. 513 The fanaticism which prevailed, being so full of sour and angry principles. 1851 Helps Comp. Solit. iii. 31 In delivering a sour discourse on the wickedness of the others. 1871 Morley Crit. Misc., Carlyle 235 A system which has raised monstrous floods of sour cant round about us. |
c. Of actions.
| 1659 T. Pecke tr. Owen's Epigr. xiii, Sowre is the exit..of the salacious Cyprian Emperess. 1697 Dryden æneid xii. 10 He makes a sour retreat, nor mends his pace. 1725 Pope Odyss. xi. 693 Touch'd at his sour retreat,..Through hell's black bounds I had pursued his flight. a 1740 Waterland Serm. iii. (1742) I. 81 God..chuses rather an easy and chearful, than an austere and sower Obedience. |
d. Wry; distorted.
| 1611 Cotgr., Morgueur, a maker of strange mouthes, or soure faces. 1822 Lamb Elia i. Dissert. on Roast Pig, Make what sour mouths he would for a pretence. |
8. Of weather, etc.: Cold and wet; inclement.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 105 In a winters soure storme must nauye be launched? 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. ii. iv, Is now thy walk too sweet? Thou said'st of late, it had sowr airs about it. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 272 The same day [we] had sower gusts of Wind and Rain. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack xi, We had a very sour and rough voyage for the first fortnight. 1773 Fergusson Poems (1789) II. 56 Simmer's showery blinks and winter's sour. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. i. vii, The Earth..weeps and blears itself, in sour rain, and worse. 1895 ‘Setoun’ Sunshine 28 It was a ‘cauld sour day’, nothing but drizzle. |
9. Of animals: Heavy, coarse, gross.
| 1713 Lond. Gaz. No. 5148/12 A strong, sower Horse of 6 l. Price. 1854 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. i. 228 They [sheep] are apt to run hairy in the wool, big in the bone, and sour in the head. 1881 Evans Leicestersh. Words, Sour, as applied to animals, coarse and gross. 1886 in Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., Two..sour, fine-looking mares. |
III. 10. Comb. a. Parasynthetic, as
sour-blooded,
sour-breathed,
sour-faced,
sour-favoured,
sour-featured,
sour-hearted,
sour-looked,
sour-tongued, etc.
| 1862 Thornbury Turner II. 136 Turner was no *sour-blooded recluse. |
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. xiii. (1622) 276 Dametas..had fetched many a *sower-breathed sigh. |
| 1653 Walton Angler To Rdr. A v b, If thou be a severe, *sowr complexioned man. |
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 20 Barraine hate, *Sower-ey'd disdaine, and discord. |
| a 1697 Aubrey Lives (1813) 511 He had a most remarkable aspect,..long-faced, and *sour eielidded, a kind of pigge-eie. |
| 1589 Marprel. Epit. (1843) 28 A *sourfaced knaue. 1883 J. Mackenzie Day-dawn in Dark Places 78 Not even Hendrik was sour-faced a day after. |
| 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist iv. 187 The face was eyeless and *sourfavoured. |
| 1830 Scott Doom Devorgoil ii. ii, With *sour-featured Whigs the Grass-market was cramm'd. |
| 1679 Poor Robin's Intelligence in Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 61 *Sour headed, saddle backed, goose rumped. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 88 The Mother Cow must wear a low'ring Look, Sour-headed, strongly-neck'd. |
| 1673 Lond. Gaz. No. 834/4 A *sowr lookt and plain Horse. |
| 1727 Bailey (vol. II), Torvity, *sour Lookedness. |
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. xiii. 102 She is browyd lyke a brystyll, with a *sowre loten chere. Ibid. xxi. 123 He is sowre lottyn. |
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iii. 6, I thinke Crab my dog be the *sowrest natured dogge that liues. |
| 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 203 A *sour-tempered Skye terrier. |
| 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Sat. i. vii. 44 The *sour-tongu'd Mungrel the Dispute renew'd. 1930 Blunden Summer's Fancy 22 And black-capped and gowned The sour-tongued master stared and hovered nigh. |
| 1821 Scott Kenilw. iii, An aged *sour-visaged domestic. |
b. With
pres. pples., as
sour-looking,
sour-smelling.
| 1611 Cotgr., Rechignard, a..soure-looking, or grimme fellow. 1799 Campbell Poems, The Harper iii, When the sour-looking folk sent me heartless away. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 544 When copal is kept melted till a sour smelling aromatic odour has ceased to proceed from it. 1855 Leifchild Cornwall 21 A lean, sour-looking man. |
c. With
ns., forming attributive combs.
| 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Acharnians ii. ii, 'Tis really terrible for men to have Such sour-grape tempers. 1881 Academy No. 492. 271 Of the sour-zealot order. 1898 Daily News 24 Mar. 2/5 A private conviction of the sour grapes order. |
11. Special collocations (frequently hyphened), as
sourball,
sour-ball U.S., (
a) a peevish or sour-tempered person; also
attrib. or as adj.; (
b) a boiled sweet with an acid taste;
sour beef U.S. local = sauerbraten;
sour bread,
† (
a) leavened bread; (
b)
U.S., sourdough bread;
sour cake, an oat- or rye-cake made of fermented dough;
† sour cheer, bitter feeling;
sour cherry, the common cherry;
sour cream,
spec. fresh cream soured by the addition of lactic acid;
sour crop Vet. Sci., oidiomycosis of chickens, turkeys, or other poultry, producing a crop filled with foul-smelling liquid and often thickened and ulcerated;
sour gourd, (the fruit of) the Baobab,
Adansonia digitata, or the related species
A. gregorii;
sour grapes: see
grape n.1 1 a; hence
sour-grapeism, the action or practice of disparaging something because it is out of one's reach;
sour-grapey a., disparaging because something is out of reach;
sour-grapiness;
† sour greme, bitter grief or anger;
sour gum (
U.S.),
kettle, (see
quots.);
sour-mash U.S., (whisky made from) fermenting grain mash; also
attrib.;
sour orange, the Seville orange,
Citrus aurantium distinguished by its thick skin and bitter pulp; also, the tree bearing this fruit; also
attrib.;
sour plum (see
quots.);
sourpuss,
sour-puss slang (
orig. U.S.) [
puss n.2], a sour-faced person; a grumbler; a killjoy; also
attrib.; so
sour-pussed a., sour-faced, miserable;
† sour swig, sour liquor or drink (
fig.);
sour tree = sour wood;
sour veld(t) S. Afr., grassland covered with coarse grass lacking nutritive value;
sour water, water soured by fermentation,
esp. in the process of starch-making;
sour wood U.S., the sorrel-tree.
A number of others in
dial. use are given in the
Eng. Dial. Dict.| 1900 Dialect Notes II. 62 *Sour-ball, a chronic grumbler. 1933 Manufacturing Chemist Nov. 41/1 Assorted Sour Balls (purchased in a railroad depot, Boston, Mass.)... Balls had a coating of grain. 1935 J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra iv. 123 My God, you're sourball tonight. 1962 E. Lacy Freeloaders vi. 113 You think Gil is nuts? He's been acting the sourball all day. 1964 [see halva]. 1976 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 Apr. 33/1 The witness from those years is overwhelming, and not just from snobbish intellectuals and sourball novelists. |
| 1935 Evening Sun (Baltimore) 2 Mar. 18/3 Mrs. Haberkorn was ‘a world champion’ *sour beef cooker. 1947 Sun (Baltimore) 3 Nov. 11/8 (Advt.), Old fashioned sour beef & dumplings. 1968 E. Staebler Food that really Schmecks 36 Sauerbraten (Sour Beef Pot Roast). |
| a 1300 Cursor M. 6166 And neuer mar þat dai til ete Na *surbred ne nanoþer mete. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xiii. 59 Þai..makes þe sacrement of þe awter of soure bred as þe Grekes duse. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxi. §2 There is no Jewish paschal solemnity nor abstinence from sour bread now required at our hands. 1884 H. A. Dwight Bread-Making 46 Sour bread is such a common evil that a special chapter should be given to it... Sour bread follows..as a consequence of sour yeast. 1902 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 196 Then for two weeks he ate the coarse, rapid food—the shapeless sour bread, the wild strange meat. 1977 H. Fast Immigrants iii. 201 Lunch was homemade sausage meat..and fresh milk as thick as cream, and with it Mary Gallagher's home-baked sour bread and home-churned butter. |
| 1793 D. Ure Hist. Rutherglen 94 Another ancient custom, for the observance of which Rutherglen has long been famous, is the baking of *sour cakes. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede viii, They..look as if they'd never tasted nothing better than bacon-sword and sour-cake i' their lives. |
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 9127 With remyng, & rauthe, & myche rife sorow, Sobbyng & *sourcher soght fro þere herttes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 466/2 Sowre chere, acrimonia. |
| 1884 tr. De Candolle's Orig. Cultivated Pl. 207 *Sour Cherry—Prunus cerasus. |
| 1855 E. Acton Mod. Cookery (rev. ed.) vi. 143 ‘*Sour cream’ is an ingredient not much approved by English taste, but it enters largely into German cookery. 1961 ‘E. Lathen’ Banking on Death (1962) iii. 22 Roast beef, baked potato—‘For God's sake, no sour cream!’ 1978 D. Francis Trial Run iii. 45 The object of her curiosity..spooned sour cream into his borsch. |
| 1951, 1975 *Sour crop [see oidiomycosis]. 1975 B. Meyrick Behind Light xv. 199 ‘Sour crop,’ he announced..as he gently felt the chicken's full crop. |
| 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 1632 The Ethiopian *sowre Gourde..groweth in Mozambique..on a faire great tree. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 327 Sour Gourd, æthiopian, Adansonia. 1857 Henfrey Bot. 247 The fruit of the Baobab, the Monkey-bread or Ethiopian Sour-gourd, has an agreeable acid pulp. 1887 Bentley Man. Bot. 481 A[dansonia] Gregorii... A native of North Australia, where it is known as Sour-gourd and Cream-of-tartar tree. |
| 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford i. 5 There, economy was always ‘elegant’, and money-spending always ‘vulgar and ostentatious’; a sort of *sour grapeism which made us very peaceful and satisfied. 1957 R. W. Zandvoort Handbk. Eng. Gram. ix. ii. 307 The suffix is added to syntactic word groups..in such formations as sour-grapeism, [etc.]. |
| 1962 Punch 11 Apr. 579/1 It may have sounded a silly and *sour-grapey sort of thing to say. 1980 Good Housekeeping Nov. 15/3 Perhaps I'm being a tiny bit sour grapey. |
| 1970 Guardian 30 July 9/4 One Amsterdam camp site owner who..almost moulded away with *sour grapiness. |
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 2053 Soche a sorow & a *sourgreme sanke in his hert. Ibid. 9042 For sorow & sorgrym of his sonnys dethe. |
| 1814 F. Pursh Flora Amer. Sept. I. 177 Nyssa villosa... This tree is known by the name of *Sour-gum. 1880 Bessey Botany 519 The wood of Nyssa multiflora, the Sour Gum, Tupelo, or Peppridge tree of the Eastern United States. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2250/1 *Sour-kettle, a vessel used in souring bleached cloth. |
| 1885 ‘C. E. Craddock’ Prophet of Gt. Smoky Mountains 150 Him an' me run a *sour mash still on the top o' the mounting. 1892 ‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claimant i. 23 Over-confidence and gaiety induced by over⁓plus of sour-mash. 1958 ‘W. Henry’ Seven Men at Mimbres Springs 216 The reservation doctor..was definitely given to a rigorous regimen of sourmash Kentucky bond taken internally for pain as self-directed. 1976 T. Stoppard Dirty Linen 65 Big bellied, red-eyed men in white crumpled suits swig from medicine bottles of two-year-old sour mash bourbon. |
| [1890 E. Bonavia Cultivated Oranges & Lemons pl. vi, The Seville Orange of Kandy..known there by the name of Amool Dódan (sour round orange).] 1920 H. J. Webber in Bull. Calif. Agric. Exper. Station No. 317. 268 An examination of sweet and *sour orange seedling stock..showed the presence of many widely different types. 1926 H. H. Hume Cultivation of Citrus Fruits iv. 45 Sour oranges, or bigarades, are distinguished from the sweet varieties by their broadly winged petioles. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling i. 12 There were..sour orange biscuits. 1973 Advocate-News (Barbados) 26 Feb. 5/1 A virus of unknown nature..was found to be infecting sour orange seedlings. |
| 1874 Treas. Bot. Suppl. 1324/2 Owenia venosa is known by the name of the *Sour Plum amongst the colonists. 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Plants 49 Owenia acidula,..‘Sour Plum’, ‘Native Peach or Nectarine’. 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 427 Sour-Plum, the Emu-apple. |
| 1937 Sun (Baltimore) 28 May 14/7 Hadley doesn't look like the kind of *sour-puss who would do that. 1942 Penguin New Writing XV. 92 He pretends to be more interested in the antics of his birds than in the puffings an' blowings of a sourpuss of a council clerk. 1960 Guardian 15 Mar. 7/3 It's about time we got away from sourpuss champions. 1966 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Company I've Kept i. 34 All the Moral Rearmers and other sour-pusses in Scotland. 1980 Logophile IV. i. 45/2 He had always been henpecked by his wife, a sourpuss with a waspish temper. |
| 1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden xlvii. 520 Henry was a man who liked fun—needed it. A *sour-pussed associate could make him sick. |
| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke vi. 74 Hauing been long accustomed to the olde *soureswyg of Moses lawe. |
| 1717 Petiveriana III. 247 Sorrel or *Sowre-tree. Because its Leaves have that Taste. |
| [1801 Sour veldt: see sour grass 3.] 1863 J. S. Dobie S. Afr. Jrnl. (1945) 76 On across the Little Tugela..over rank *sour-veldt grass. 1894 T. R. Sim Sk. Flora Kaffraria 14 The sour veld..is composed of rank strong growing grasses. 1948 Star (Johannesburg) 20 Oct. 3/7 Sourveld management presents formidable problems. 1978 Jrnl. Afr. Hist. XIX. 479 Seasonal loss of nutrition of the plateau grasses (i.e. the presence of sourveld). |
| 1816 Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 554 Water in which the bran has been allowed to become sour, and which is called sours, or *sour water. 1836–41 Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 1084 The starch suspended in a very foul acid liquor, called sour water. |
| 1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. 254 Oxydendrum, Sorrel-tree. *Sour-wood. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 430 Sour wood (Andromeda arborea), a beautiful tree, which..is sometimes called Sorrel tree. 1880 New Virgin. II. 171 There were quantities of the pretty, graceful sourwood—the Oxydendrum arboreum. |
B. n.1 1. That which is sour, in
lit. or
fig. senses. Used without article, or with
the,
a, etc.
| (a) c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 56 Sele drincan middeldaᵹum, & forga sur & sealtes ᵹehwæt. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5059 He is a wrecche..That loved such one, for swete or soure. c 1420 26 Pol. Poems xvii. 131 For oure swete, he drank ful soure. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) i. 107 As waspis ressauis of þe same bot soure, So reprobatis Christis buke dois rebute. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 242 You haue bene a Trauailer and tasted nothing but sowre. 1612 J. Davies (Heref.) Muse's Sacrifice Wks. (Grosart) II. 12/2 Mellefluous Sweetnesse..Sweeten my Sowre. 1657 J. Trapp Comm. Neh. i. 8 Sower and sweet maketh best sawce. 1881 D. Thomson Musings among Heather 191 We likewise find Our sour gey aften mix'd wi' sweet. |
| (b) a 1300 Cursor M. 23979 He dranc þe sure and i þe suete. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 12 Tuo tonnes fulle of love drinke,..of the soure or of the swete. 1448–9 J. Metham Wks. (E.E.T.S.) 52, I be myn one schal bothe the sqwete and the soure For yow endure. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 4 Hym cunne I thanke, that bothe can and will, once mingle sweet emong the sower. 1584–7 Greene Carde of Fancie Wks. (Grosart) IV. 110 By the sweete (quoth hee) how should we know the sower? 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. lxix. (1674) 86 The Sower of obeying, and Sweet of commanding. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. vi. 177 Many People give their Patients..Conserves of the sowre of Citron. 1724 Ramsay Tea-Table Misc. Ded. vi, Their sangs may ward ye frae the sour, And gaily vacant minutes pass. |
| (c) 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 820 Wyth no sour ne no salt seruez hym neuer. ? 1402 in Yorks. Arch. Jrnl. XX. 47 Thus did God dele, For swete, a sour. 1592 Breton C'tess Pembroke's Love Wks. (Grosart) I. 24/1 Sowing the sweete, that killeth euery sower. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 867 The sweets we wish for, turne to lothed sowrs. 1634 Massinger Very Woman iv. ii, We have not an hour of life In which our pleasures relish not some pain, Our sours some sweetness. 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) I. 107 Loaf sugar..prevents the injuries which a gnawing sower might do to the bowels. 1816 L. Hunt Rimini iii. 64 He kept no reckoning with his sweets and sours. 1900 S. Weyman Sophia xv, The only sour in his cup..arose from his costume. |
2. In bleaching and tanning, a bath or steep of an acid character.
| 1756 F. Home Exper. Bleaching 28 Sours made with bran, or rye meal, and water, are often used instead of milk. 1778 Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 125 The bleachers of linen make use of a sour prepared by diluting the strong spirit of vitriol. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 137 They are thence removed to the sours. 1860 Tomlinson Usef. Arts, Leather Manuf. 12 The skins are..immersed for twelve hours in a very weak solution of sulphuric acid, called sours. 1873 Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 30/2 After being cleaned or scalded, discharge in a hot vitriol sour. |
3. U.S. An acid drink, usually whisky or other spirit with lemon added.
| 1862 J. Thomas How to mix Drinks 59 The brandy sour is made with the same ingredients as the brandy fix, omitting all fruits. 1885 Pall Mall G. 10 Feb. 2/2, I prefer..‘swapping stories’ to sipping ‘whisky sours’. 1889 Ibid. 20 June 3/2 Sours are made principally with whisky or brandy, or Santa Cruz rum. |
▪ II. sour, n.2 (
saʊə(r))
[f. sour v.] An act of souring,
spec. in bleaching (see
prec. B. 2).
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 135 If the goods be strong, they will require another boil, steep, and sour. |
▪ III. sour, adv. (
saʊə(r))
Also 4–5
sure,
soure, 6–7
sowre.
[ME. sūre, f. sūr sour a. Cf. MDu. sure, zure.] † 1. Bitterly, dearly; severely.
Obs.| c 1300 Havelok 2005 Þus wolde þe theues me haue reft But God-þank, he hauenet sure keft. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 361 It shal bisitten vs ful soure þe siluer þat we kepen. c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 111 And yit I hope..That thou schalt with this launcegay Abyen it ful soure. a 1400–50 Alexander 2313 Þai said, soure suld him sowe bot he þe cite ȝeld. |
2. Disagreeably, unpleasantly; crossly, gloomily, unfavourably. Chiefly in
phr. to
look sour.
In some cases
perh. the
adj. used predicatively.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems liii. 37 God waitt gif that scho loukit sour! 1531 Tindale Expos. 1 John (1537) 33 God hath no rodde in his hande, nor loketh sowre. 1557 N.T. (Geneva) Matt. vi. 16 When ye fast, loke not sowre as the hypocrites do. 1629 Maxwell tr. Herodian 49 The Roman Citizens being thus surrounded with direfull Mis-haps,..began to looke sowre vpon Commodus. 1693 Locke Educ. 58 When the Father or Mother looks sowre on the Child. 1833 H. Martineau Brooke Farm vi. 73 If anything ever did make him look sour, it was his dinner not being ready. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. vi. v, Nor has public speaking declined, though Lafayette and his Patrols look sour on it. |
▪ IV. sour, v. (
saʊə(r))
Forms: 4–7
soure (4
zoure), 4–8
sowr(e, 6–8
sower, 7–
sour.
[f. sour a. Cf. WFris. sûrje, MDu. suren (Du. zuren), LG. sûren, OHG. sûrên (MHG. sûren, G. sauern) to become sour; also MHG. siuren (G. säuern), LG. süren, NFris. sürre, MSw. and Sw. syra to make sour.] 1. a. intr. To become sour; to acquire a sour taste.
| 13.. [see b]. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 82 Fulofte and thus the swete soureth, Whan it is knowe to the tast. 1442 Lett. Marg. Anjou & Bp. Beckington (Camden) 80 Youre wynes shall nother soure nor stande base, for defaulte of drynkers. 1530 Palsgr. 640/1, I do some good in the house, I keep breed from moldyng and drinke from sowryng. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 147 Made of two sorts of milke,..it soone sowreth. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme iii. xlix. 532 The cyder made of sweete apples, hauing a soft and tender flesh, is more apt to sowre. 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 155 Neither will the Oyl sowre so soon. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. i. 268 Milk when it sours on the Stomach. 1776 Johnson in Boswell 12 Apr. (Oxf. ed.) II. 28 He cannot find in his heart to pour out a bottle of wine; but he would not much care if it should sour. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 608 It is absolutely necessary that the lime..be allowed to remain a considerable time macerating or souring in water. 1881 Sheldon Dairy Farming 314 Used in milk it has the effect of preventing the faintest approach of souring, for at least a week, in the hottest of weather. |
| fig. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. ii. 165 Such barmy heads wil alwaies be working, when as sad vinegar wittes sit souring at the bottome of a barrell. 1657 Reeve God's Plea 2 This it is..to lye sowring in the leaven of discontent. |
b. fig. To change or turn
to a bitter feeling. Also without
const.| 13.. K. Alis. 7002 (Laud MS.), Hote loue often after wil soure. 1678 Dryden All for Love ii. i, Love once past, is, at the best, forgotten; But oftner sours to Hate. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 338 Like bosom friendships to resentment sour'd. 1885–94 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche May xxx, Thy sisters' love, seeing thee honour'd so, Will sour to envy. |
c. To become embittered, morose, or peevish.
| 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. i. xvii, They hate to mingle in the filthy fray, Where the soul sours, and gradual rancour grows. 1754 Richardson Grandison VII. xlii. 202 A single woman..remains solitary and unheeded, in a busy bustling world; perhaps soured to it by her unconnected state. 1842 Tennyson Walking to Mail 53 She sour'd To what she is: a nature never kind! 1893 Daily News 29 Sept. 3/1 They sour and degenerate, grow cynical and misanthropic. |
d. to sour on, to take a dislike or distaste to (a person or thing).
orig. U.S.| 1862 in Thornton Amer. Gloss. s.v., Guess the M.P. will ‘sour’ on William C., when he has seen him for about fifteen minutes. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 205 The curious expression of souring on an unpleasant task or occupation. 1900 Daily News 13 Nov. 9/3 Dan soured on Castlereagh boys..forthwith. |
2. a. trans. Of leaven: To cause fermentation in (dough, etc.).
| 1340 Ayenb. 205 Ase þe leuayne zoureþ þet doȝ and hit draȝþ to smac. 1382 Wyclif Exod. xii. 34 Thanne the puple tok sprengid meel, or it were sowrid. 1526 Tindale 1 Cor. v. 6 A lytell leven sowereth the whole lompe of dowe. 1642 J. Ball Answ. to Can ii. 34 A little leaven sowreth the whole masse. 1872 J. G. Murphy Comm. Lev. ii. 11 Leaven is a portion of sour dough, which, when mingled with the fresh mass, sours it also. |
b. fig. or in
fig. context.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 294 He is the levein of the bred, Which soureth al the past aboute. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. ¶9 Such as are, if not frozen in the dregs, yet sowred with the leauen of their superstition. 1647 Hist. Anabaptists 17 Seducing many, and sowring the new Lump of the Church with the Leaven of his perverse doctrine. c 1730 Swift Serm. vii. Wks. 1841 II. 156/2 The smallest mixture of that leaven will sour the whole lump. |
3. a. To make sour or acid;
esp. to cause to have a tart or sour taste; to spoil in this way.
| c 1460 Promp. Parv. (Winch.) 461 Sowryn, or make sowre, aceo. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 161 To sowre all the wines in Rome, and turne them to vineger. 1632 Sanderson Serm. 467 A nasty vessell sowreth all that is put into it. c 1685 Dk. Buckingham Conf. Wks. 1705 II. 45 He..Sours our Palm Wine, spoils our Victuals. 1715 Addison Drummer i. i, He'll sour all the beer in my barrels. 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. ii. 77 For tainted Vessels sour what they contain. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xii, In case the thunner should hae soured ours at the castle. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 608 Allowing no more lime..than is just sufficient to macerate or sour it with the water. 1903 Daily Chron. 12 Jan. 7/1 A germ that was souring each brew of beer in a large brewery. |
| fig. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. xi, We not intend to sowre your late delights With harsh expostulation. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 102 Three crabbed Moneths had sowr'd themselues to death. 1645 Quarles Sol. Recant. v, This sowers all thy sweets, sads all thy Rest. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. 10 To have other by-ends in good actions sowers laudable performances. 1720 Ozell tr. Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. i. 47 Appius..could not help sowering the Usefulness of his Counsels with the Austerity of his Character. 1826 Lamb Elia ii. Wedding, The awful eye of the parson..souring my incipient jest to the tristful severities of a funeral. 1859 J. Marshall Hist. Scottish Affairs x. 218 Education in him had not sweetened nature, but nature had soured education. |
b. To make (land) cold and wet.
| 1842 J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 185 It is drenched, soured, and turned into mire through the winter. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 262 To allow any excess of water to drain off into a place where it cannot sour the soil. |
c. Bleaching. To subject to the action of diluted acids. Also with
off.
| 1756 F. Home Exper. Bleaching 80 In a bleachfield, when they were drawing a parcel of coarse cloth soured in this manner. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 136 After which, they are completely rinsed in pure spring water, and then soured. 1873 Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 15/1 Then sour the whole in a bath of sulphuric acid. 1875 F. J. Bird Dyer's Hand-bk. 52 After cleaning goods should be soured off. |
4. a. To render sour, gloomy, or morose; to embitter (the mind, temper, etc.).
| 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. Introd., This protraction is able to sour the best settled patience in the theatre. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. lii. 522 To sowre the Minds of the Subjects against the Queen. a 1770 Jortin Serm. (1771) I. v. 91 Their piety is of that sort which sours the temper. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxix. IV. 32 His mind was soured by indignation. 1838 Lytton Alice 133 Whose heart his schemes had prematurely soured. 1856 Macaulay Misc. Writ. (1882) 314 Continued adversity had soured Johnson's temper. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 261 Physical and mental misery, which soured her disposition. |
b. With personal object. In
pa. pple., also (
U.S. and
Austral. colloq.)
const. on (the source of embitterment, etc.).
| 1669 Temple Lett. (1700) II. 127 The Suedish Court, sowered by the ill Treatment..of their Ministers, will [etc.]. 1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome 220 These Losses did exceedingly sowre the People. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, x. Wks. 1813 III. 208 Philip, sowered by his disappointment, was sent back to Spain. 1832 H. Martineau Homes Abroad i. 12 What sours..him more than to work and work from year to year in vain? 1878 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 9 He seems to us a man..whose conscience..had soured him. 1897 Badminton Mag. IV. 389 The filly, soured by our recent encounter, reared. 1898 E. N. Westcott David Harum xli. 346 He's kind o' soured on the hull thing. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xvii. 225 ‘Fact is,’ said the packer, ‘we're gettin' er bit soured on wimmin.’ 1907 St. Nicholas XXXIV. 601/2 Maybe if I get any more soured on Hammond I'll skate over with my trunk and try Ferry Hill. |
† c. To invest with a sour expression.
Obs. rare.
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 185 Adonis..Souring his cheeks cries ‘Fie, no more of love!’ 1593 ― Rich. II, ii. i. 169. |