The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sour \Sour\, a. [Compar. Sourer; superl. Sourest.] [OE. sour, sur, AS. s?r; akin to D. zuur, G. sauer, OHG. s?r, Icel. s?rr, Sw. sur, Dan. suur, Lith. suras salt, Russ. surovui harsh, rough. Cf. Sorrel, the plant.]
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Having an acid or sharp, biting taste, like vinegar, and the juices of most unripe fruits; acid; tart.
All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.
--Bacon. Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or musty, turned.
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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. Afflictive; painful. ``Sour adversity.''
--Shak.-
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.
Syn: Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious; crabbed; currish; peevish.
WordNet
n. Australian tree having an agreeably acid fruit that resembles a gourd [syn: cream-of-tartar tree, Adansonia gregorii]
African gourd-like fruit with edible pulp [syn: monkey bread]
acid-tasting Australian gourd-like fruit with a woody rind and large seeds