sours


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Related to sours: soursop

sour

 (sour)
adj. sour·er, sour·est
1. Having a taste characteristic of that produced by acids; sharp, tart, or tangy.
2. Made acid or rancid by fermentation.
3. Having the characteristics of fermentation or rancidity; tasting or smelling of decay.
4.
a. Bad-tempered and morose; peevish: a sour temper.
b. Displeased with something one formerly admired or liked; disenchanted: sour on ballet.
5.
a. Not measuring up to the expected or usual ability or quality; bad: a sour performance of the play.
b. Not having the correct or properly produced pitch: a sour note.
6. Of or relating to excessively acid soil that is damaging to crops.
7.
a. Containing excessive levels of sulfur compounds, carbon dioxide, or both. Used of oil and natural gas.
b. Containing excessive levels of peroxides. Used of gasoline.
n.
1. The sensation of sour taste, one of the four primary tastes.
2. Something sour.
3. A mixed drink made especially with whiskey, lemon or lime juice, sugar, and sometimes soda water.
tr. & intr.v. soured, sour·ing, sours
1. To make or become sour.
2. To make or become disagreeable, disillusioned, or disenchanted.

[Middle English, from Old English sūr.]

sour′ish adj.
sour′ly adv.
sour′ness n.
Synonyms: sour, acerbic, acid, acidic, tart1
These adjectives mean having a taste like that produced by an acid: sour lemons; an acerbic vinegar; the acid taste of guavas; a lightly acidic coffee; tart cherries.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
Yes, Heaven is thine; but this Is a world of sweets and sours; Our flowers are merely - flowers, And the shadow of thy perfect bliss Is the sunshine of ours.
I remember how horrified we were at the sour, ashy-grey bread she gave her family to eat.
Then Dummling said: 'Father, do let me go and cut wood.' The father answered: 'Your brothers have hurt themselves with it, leave it alone, you do not understand anything about it.' But Dummling begged so long that at last he said: 'Just go then, you will get wiser by hurting yourself.' His mother gave him a cake made with water and baked in the cinders, and with it a bottle of sour beer.
A FOX, seeing some sour grapes hanging within an inch of his nose, and being unwilling to admit that there was anything he would not eat, solemnly declared that they were out of his reach.
'It is true, sir,' replies Venus, winking his weak eyes, and running his fingers through his dusty shock of hair, 'that I was so, before a certain observation soured me.
He quoted several texts (for he was well read in Scripture), such as, He visits the sins of the fathers upon the children; and the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge ,&c.
She just grew sour and obstinate and did not care what happened.
"No, 'tisn't sour grapes," answered Captain Jim seriously.
(sour, acrid, salt, sweet, bitter), yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted.
When I came back from fielding this last ball I found him embracing his bat, and to my sour congratulations he could at first reply only with hysterical sounds.
Sour apples are there, no doubt, whose lot is to wait until the last day of autumn: and at the same time they become ripe, yellow, and shrivelled.
Sallie began to laugh, but Meg nodded and lifted her eyebrows as high as they would go, which caused the apparition to vanish and put the sour bread into the oven without further delay.