vinegar

plural vinegars

1. uncountableA sour liquid formed by the fermentation of alcohol used as a condiment or preservative; a dilute solution of acetic acid.

   In Persia, newly married couples were presented with sheep's trotters steeped in vinegar as a love enticement.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 220

2. countableAny variety of vinegar.

   a range of herb-flavoured vinegars

3. UScountableinformaluncountableVigor; vitality.

   [Rahm Emanuel] was full of vinegar on his proposal of mandatory retirement at age 75 for the president and the rest of the executive branch, as well as Congress and the judiciary.

   2026 January 24, Linda Feldmann, “Rahm Emanuel for president? A Monitor event with Chicago’s former mayor.”, in The Christian Science Monitor

   1 more example

   You full of vinegar now, but you 'bout through / We gonna get a steam drill to do your share of driving / Then what's all them muscles gonna do? Huh, John Henry? / Gonna take a little bit of vinegar out of you.

   1962, “The Legend of John Henry's Hammer”, performed by Johnny Cash

present singular third person vinegars · participle present vinegaring · participle past vinegared · past vinegared

1. transitiveTo season or otherwise treat with vinegar.

   Accordingly, after a vast amount of moaning and crying up-stairs, and much damping of foreheads, and vinegaring of temples, and hartshorning of noses, and so forth […]

   1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 19.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC