sour

comparative sourer · superlative sourest · alternative obsolete sower · alternative obsolete sowre

1. Tasting of acidity.

   Lemons have a sour taste.

   2 more examples

   All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.

   1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC

   A few types of molecules get sensed by receptors on the tongue. Protons coming off of acids ping receptors for "sour." Sugars get received as "sweet." Bitter, salty, and the proteinaceous flavor umami all set off their own neural cascades.

   2018 May 16, Adam Rogers, “The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel”, in Wired

2. Made rancid by fermentation, etc.

   Don't drink that milk; it's turned sour.

3. Tasting or smelling rancid.

   His sour breath makes it unpleasing to talk to him.

4. Hostile or unfriendly.

   He gave me a sour look.

   1 more example

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

   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]

5. Excessively acidic and thus infertile. (of soil)

   sour land

   1 more example

   a sour marsh

6. Containing excess sulfur. (of petroleum)

   sour gas smells like rotten eggs

7. Unfortunate or unfavorable.

   Let me embrace thee, sour adversity

   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]

   1 more example

   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.

   2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport

8. entertainmentOff-pitch, out of tune.

   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).

   2010, Aniruddh D. Patel, Music, Language, and the Brain, page 201

plural sours · alternative obsolete sower · alternative obsolete sowre

1. countableuncountableThe sensation of a sour taste.
2. countableuncountableA drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
3. broadlycountableuncountableAny cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
4. countableuncountableA sweet/candy having a sharply sour taste.

   “You know I like them candies, especially the lemon sours.”

   2022, Michael N. Riley, ARCH BOOK I, page 78

5. countableuncountableA sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.

   For many Years of Sorrow can dispense; A Dram of Sweet is worth a Pound of Sour

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

6. countableuncountableThe acidic solution used in souring fabric.

present singular third person sours · participle present souring · participle past soured · past soured · first person past singular soured · archaic present second person singular sourest · past second person singular soured · archaic past second person singular souredst · present singular third person sours · archaic present singular third person soureth · past singular third person soured · past plural soured · past subjunctive soured · participle present souring · participle past soured · alternative obsolete sower

1. transitiveTo make sour.

   Too much lemon juice will sour the recipe.

2. intransitiveTo become sour.

   So the sun's heat, with different powers, / Ripens the grape, the liquor sours.

   1720, Jonathan Swift, To Stella, on transcribing my Poems

3. transitiveTo spoil or mar; to make disenchanted.

   To sour your happiness I must report, / The queen is dead.

   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]

   1 more example

   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.

   1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC

4. intransitiveTo become disenchanted.

   We broke up after our relationship soured.

5. transitiveTo make (soil) cold and unproductive.

   stagnant water , which tends to sour the soil

   1832, Joseph Harrison, Sir Joseph Paxton, The Horticultural Register, page 396

6. To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.
7. transitiveTo process (fabric) after bleaching, using hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid to wash out the lime.