sour
See also: sour-
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”).
Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sur, French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”), Polish ser (“cheese”), Czech sýr (“cheese”), Slovak syr (“cheese”), Russian сырой (syroj, “raw”), Ukrainian сири́й (syrýj, “raw”), Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsaʊə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsaʊɚ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)
- Rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ)
Adjective edit
sour (comparative sourer, superlative sourest)
- Tasting of acidity.
- Lemons have a sour taste.
- 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
- All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.
- 2018 May 16, Adam Rogers, “The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel”, in Wired:
- Made rancid by fermentation, etc.
- Don't drink that milk; it's turned sour.
- Tasting or smelling rancid.
- His sour breath makes it unpleasing to talk to him.
- (of a person's character) Hostile or unfriendly.
- He gave me a sour look.
- c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
- He was a scholar […] / Lofty and sour to them that loved him not, / But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
- Excessively acidic and thus infertile. (of soil)
- sour land
- a sour marsh
- Containing excess sulfur. (of petroleum)
- sour gas smells like rotten eggs
- Unfortunate or unfavorable.
- 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
- Let me embrace thee, sour adversity
- 2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport[1]:
- The result may not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.
- (music) Off-pitch, out of tune.
- 2010, Aniruddh D. Patel, Music, Language, and the Brain, page 201:
- Unlike what the name implies, there is nothing inherently wrong with a sour note: It is perfectly well-tuned note that would sound normal in another context (and which presumably would not sound sour to someone unfamiliar with tonal music).
Antonyms edit
- (antonym(s) of "soil, petroleum"): sweet
Derived terms edit
- fine and dandy like sour candy
- for sour apples
- go sour
- hot and sour soup
- leave a sour taste in one's mouth
- sour beer
- sour cherry
- sour corn
- sour cream
- sour crude
- sour diesel
- sour fig
- sour gas
- sour gourd
- sour grapes
- sour grass
- sour gum
- sour honey
- sour krout
- sourly
- sour mash
- sour milk
- sourness
- sour note
- sour puss
- sour stomach
- sour tooth
- sweet-and-sour
- sweet-and-sour sauce
- the grapes are sour anyway
Translations edit
having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste
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made rancid by fermentation, etc.
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tasting or smelling rancid
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peevish or bad-tempered
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(of soil) excessively acidic and thus infertile
(of petroleum) containing excess sulfur
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also edit
| Basic tastes in English (layout · text) | |||||
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| sweet | sour | salty | bitter | spicy | savory |
Noun edit
sour (countable and uncountable, plural sours)
- The sensation of a sour taste.
- (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
- (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (by extension) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
- A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- For many Years of Sorrow can dispense;
A Dram of Sweet is worth a Pound of Sour
- The acidic solution used in souring fabric.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
the sensation of a sour taste
a drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar
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Verb edit
sour (third-person singular simple present sours, present participle souring, simple past and past participle soured)
- (transitive) To make sour.
- Too much lemon juice will sour the recipe.
- (intransitive) To become sour.
- 1720, Jonathan Swift, To Stella, on transcribing my Poems:
- So the sun's heat, with different powers, / Ripens the grape, the liquor sours.
- (transitive) To spoil or mar; to make disenchanted.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:
- To sour your happiness I must report, / The queen is dead.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
- He was prudent and industrious, and so good a husbandman, that he might have led a very easy and comfortable life, had not an arrant vixen of a wife soured his domestic quiet.
- (intransitive) To become disenchanted.
- We broke up after our relationship soured.
- (transitive) To make (soil) cold and unproductive.
- 1832, Joseph Harrison, Sir Joseph Paxton, The Horticultural Register, page 396:
- stagnant water , which tends to sour the soil
- To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.
- (transitive) To process (fabric) after bleaching, using hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid to wash out the lime.
Conjugation edit
Conjugation of sour
| infinitive | (to) sour | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | sour | soured | |
| 2nd-person singular | sour, sourest† | soured, souredst† | |
| 3rd-person singular | sours, soureth† | soured | |
| plural | sour | ||
| subjunctive | sour | soured | |
| imperative | sour | — | |
| participles | souring | soured | |
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to make sour
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to become sour
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to make disenchanted
to become disenchanted
|
Anagrams edit
French edit
Adjective edit
sour (feminine soure, masculine plural sours, feminine plural soures)
- (nonstandard) Alternative form of sûr
Preposition edit
sour
- (nonstandard) Alternative form of sur
Middle English edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Old English sūr.
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
sour
- sour, acidic, bitter
- foul-smelling, rancid
- fermented, curdled
- unpleasant, unattractive
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
Etymology 2 edit
From Old French essorer.
Verb edit
sour
- Alternative form of soren (“to soar”)
Romansch edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
sour f (plural sours)