sweet-and-sour

comparative more sweet-and-sour · superlative most sweet-and-sour · alternative sweet and sour

1. cookingHaving both sweet and sour or tart taste.
2. Having both positive and negative traits, or inspiring conflicting good and bad feelings.

   Humans utilize a kind of sweet and sour blend of love potion called charm.

   2014, Lloyd E. McIlveen, Improving on Love and Relationships

   1 more example

   Like an accordion at a country wedding producing sweet-and-sour notes, some importers are expanding their U.S. retail automotive operations while others are skinnying down.

   1982, Ward's Auto World, volume 18, numbers 1-6, page 65

   Synonyms: bittersweet

plural sweet-and-sours · alternative sweet and sour

1. countableuncountableAny dish that combines sweet and sour flavours, especially

   There is a strong German ethnic streak in rural western Maryland and it shows in the cooking with its sweet-and-sours.

   1986, Fortitudine, page 3

2. Any dish that combines sweet and sour flavours, especially:
   1. countableuncountableA Chinese-style dish with sweet-and-sour sauce.

      This evening, Willy took me to eat at the Bamboo Palace. He had sweet and sour with two kinds of noodles and I had bean hot-pot.

      2012 May 3, Doris Paterson, Willy & Me, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 70

      3 more examples

      First we had tossed green salad, prepared by Sister McDonald and our two new members, and then our Chinese food - chow mein, rice, egg foo young, sweet and sours, bread sticks, chinese tea with fortune cakes, prepared and served by our Brother Yardmasters for a "Chinese Food" dinner.

      1949, The Railroad Yardmaster

      Breakfast is served until 11am, after which delicious chilled beans, sweet and sours, and stir fries appear for around RM3 a portion.

      2003, Charles de Ledesma, Mark Lewis, Pauline Savage, Rough Guides (Firm), Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, Rough Guides, →ISBN, page 417

      In contrast, this definitely isn't 'real' China – sticky sweet-and-sours and egg foo yong are the rule here – but it's quiet, cosy and tasty, and the price is right.

      2009, Nepal

   2. countableuncountableCandy with a sour taste, often dusted with fizzy sherbet.

      No overwhelming sweetness, but a cool, refreshing after taste in your mints that lets delicate natural flavors come through. Same for tabletted sweet and sours, or gums

      1970, Candy and Baked Snack Industry

      2 more examples

      There are elderberry balls, boiled sweets with paper mottos, Katrien's caramels, candied anise, liquorice chew sticks and black liquorice laces, sweet-and-sours, and tart strawberry drops, all lined up in large glass jars.

      2016 June 30, Stefan Hertmans, War and Turpentine, Random House, →ISBN

      Tala swore Jameson's face when she went down on him with a mouth still zinging from the sweet and sours she'd necked on the coach looked like he'd contracted something.

      2022 October 6, Amy Beashel, We Are All Constellations, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN

   3. countableuncountableA sweetened sour pickle, or a combination of sweet and sour pickles.

      Honey dills, bread n' butters, sweet and sours, gherkins, mustard pickles and relishes: everything's here.

      2011 July 20, Thom Rock, Blueberry Fool: Memory, Moments, and Meaning, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN

      2 more examples

      Sweet and sours are in sellers' favor as spot stocks are light and the market in the country is rather bullish and advancing.

      1923, Western Canner and Packer

      Try the Pennsylvania Dutch idea of "sweet and sours" and put both a sweet conserve or chutney and a dish of pickles on the table.)

      1962 07, House & Garden