What does "sour" mean?
Sour: Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or musty, turned.
Additional senses
- 2.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.
- 3.Afflictive; painful. "Sour adversity." Shak.
- 4.Cold and unproductive; as, sour land; a sour marsh. Sour dock (Bot.), sorrel. -- Sour gourd (Bot.), the gourdlike fruit Adansonia Gregorii, and A. digitata; also, either of the trees bearing this fruit. See Adansonia. -- Sour grapes. See under Grape. -- Sour gum (Bot.) See Turelo. -- Sour plum (Bot.), the edible acid fruit of an Australian tree (Owenia venosa); also, the tree itself, which furnished a hard reddish wood used by wheelwrights.
- 5.A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect. Spenser.
- 6.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.
- 7.To make cold and unproductive, as soil. Mortimer.
- 8.To make unhappy, uneasy, or less agreeable. To sour your happiness I must report, The queen is dead. Shak.
- 9.To cause or permit to become harsh or unkindly. "Souring his cheeks." Shak. Pride had not sour'd nor wrath debased my heart. Harte.
- 10.To macerate, and render fit for plaster or mortar; as, to sour lime for business purposes.
- 11.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.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00