Word Meanings - SOUR - Book Publishers vocabulary database

s; akin to D. zuur, G. sauer, OHG. s, Icel. s, Sw. sur, Dan. suur, 1. 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. 2. Changed, as by

Additional info about word: SOUR

s; akin to D. zuur, G. sauer, OHG. s, Icel. s, Sw. sur, Dan. suur, 1. 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. 2. Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or musty, turned. 3. 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. 4. Afflictive; painful. "Sour adversity." Shak. 5. Cold and unproductive; as, sour land; a sour marsh. Sour dock , sorrel. -- Sour gourd , 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 See Turelo. -- Sour plum , the edible acid fruit of an Australian tree ; also, the tree itself, which furnished a hard reddish wood used by wheelwrights. Syn. -- Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious; crabbed; currish; peevish.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of SOUR)

• Acrid
• Harsh
• sour
• Austere
• Hard
• rigid
• stern
• severe
• morose
• unrelenting
• unyielding
• strict
• rigorous
• harsh
• relentless
• Bitter
• sharp
• tart
• acrimonious
• sarcastic
• sad
• afflictive
• intense
• stinging
• pungent
• acrid
• cutting
• Crabbed
• Sour
• crossgrained
• petulant
• churlish
• irritable
• crusty
• Musty
• Fusty
• rank
• mouldy
• frowzy
• stale
• fetid
• mildewed

Related words: (words related to SOUR)

• STERNFOREMOST
  With the stern, instead of the bow, in advance; hence, figuratively, in an awkward, blundering manner. A fatal genius for going sternforemost. Lowell.
• CRABBER
  One who catches crabs.
• STERNUTATORY
  Sternutative. -- n.
• BITTERWEED
  A species of Ambrosia ; Roman worm wood. Gray.
• STALELY
  1. In a state stale manner. 2. Of old; long since. B. Jonson.
• STINGBULL
  The European greater weever fish , which is capable of inflicting severe wounds with the spinous rays of its dorsal fin. See Weever.
• STING RAY; STINGRAY
  Any one of numerous rays of the family Dasyatidæ, syn. Trygonidæ, having one or more large sharp barbed dorsal spines, on the whiplike tail, capable of inflicting severe wounds. Some species reach a large size, and some, esp., on the American
• SHARPLY
  In a sharp manner,; keenly; acutely. They are more sharply to be chastised and reformed than the rude Irish. Spenser. The soldiers were sharply assailed with wants. Hayward. You contract your eye when you would see sharply. Bacon.
• FROWZY
  Slovenly; unkempt; untidy; frouzy. "With head all frowzy." Spenser. The frowzy soldiers' wives hanging out clothes. W. D. Howells.
• STRICT
  Upright, or straight and narrow; -- said of the shape of the plants or their flower clusters. Syn. -- Exact; accurate; nice; close; rigorous; severe. -- Strict, Severe. Strict, applied to a person, denotes that he conforms in his motives and acts
• ACRIDLY
  In an acid manner.
• STERNOHYOID
  Of or pertaining to the sternum and the hyoid bone or cartilage.
• SHARPER
  A person who bargains closely, especially, one who cheats in bargains; a swinder; also, a cheating gamester. Sharpers, as pikes, prey upon their own kind. L'Estrange. Syn. -- Swindler; cheat; deceiver; trickster; rogue. See Swindler.
• BITTERS
  A liquor, generally spirituous in which a bitter herb, leaf, or root is steeped.
• CUTTHROAT
  One who cuts throats; a murderer; an assassin.
• STERNAL
  Of or pertaining to the sternum; in the region of the sternum. Sternal ribs. See the Note under Rib, n., 1.
• AFFLICTIVELY
  In an afflictive manner.
• FETIDNESS
  The quality or state of being fetid.
• CROSSGRAINED
  1. Having the grain or fibers run diagonally, or more or less transversely an irregularly, so as to interfere with splitting or planing. If the stuff proves crossgrained, . . . then you must turn your stuff to plane it the contrary way. Moxon.
• STERNSMAN
  A steersman.
• CONTRADISTINGUISH
  To distinguish by a contrast of opposite qualities. These are our complex ideas of soul and body, as contradistinguished. Locke.
• WASTING
  Causing waste; also, undergoing waste; diminishing; as, a wasting disease; a wasting fortune. Wasting palsy , progressive muscular atrophy. See under Progressive.
• DISINTERESTING
  Uninteresting. "Disinteresting passages." Bp. Warburton.
• INDISTINGUISHABLE
  Not distinguishable; not capable of being perceived, known, or discriminated as separate and distinct; hence, not capable of being perceived or known; as, in the distance the flagship was indisguishable; the two copies were indisguishable in form
• PERSISTING
  Inclined to persist; tenacious of purpose; persistent. -- Per*sist"ing*ly, adv.
• EVERLASTINGLY
  In an everlasting manner.
• ASTRICT
  To restrict the tenure of; as, to astrict lands. See Astriction, 4. Burrill. (more info) 1. To bind up; to confine; to constrict; to contract. The solid parts were to be relaxed or astricted. Arbuthnot. 2. To bind; to constrain; to restrict; to
• BOA CONSTRICTOR
  A large and powerful serpent of tropical America, sometimes twenty or thirty feet long. See Illustration in Appendix. Note: It has a succession of spots, alternately black and yellow, extending along the back. It kills its prey by constriction.
• PROSTERNATION
  Dejection; depression. Wiseman.
• IMBITTER
  To make bitter; hence, to make distressing or more distressing; to make sad, morose, sour, or malignant. Is there anything that more imbitters the enjoyment of this life than shame South. Imbittered against each other by former contests. Bancroft.