sourer

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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.]

1.Having an acid or sharp, biting taste, like vinegar, and the juices of most unripe fruits; acid; tart. [1913 Webster]

All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.— Bacon.[1913 Webster]

2.Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or musty, turned. [1913 Webster]

3.Disagreeable; unpleasant; hence; cross; crabbed; peevish; morose; as, a man of a sour temper; a sour reply. "A sour countenance." --Swift. [1913 Webster]

He was a scholar . . . Lofty and sour to them that loved him not, But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

4.Afflictive; painful. "Sour adversity." --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5.Cold and unproductive; as, sour land; a sour marsh. [1913 Webster]

Sour dock (Bot.), sorrel.

Sour gourd (Bot.), the gourdlike fruit Adansonia Gregorii, and Adansonia 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. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious; crabbed; currish; peevish. [1913 Webster]