| 释义 |
▪ I. sour, a. and n.1|saʊə(r)|
Forms: 1–4 sur (5 sur-), 3–4 sure, 4–8 soure (4 zoure), 4– sour; 4–8 sowr(e, sower (5 sowyr, 7 shoowre), 9 Sc. soor.
[Common Teut.: OE. súr, = OFris. sûr (mod.Fris. sûr, sür), MDu. suur, suer, soer (Du. zuur), OS. (MLG., LG.), OHG. (MHG.) sûr (G. sauer), ON. súrr (Norw., Sw., Da. sur), related to Lett. súrs bitter, saltish, unpleasant, Lith. súras saltish, OSlav. syrŭ (Russ. sȳroĭ) moist, raw (Russ. surovȳĭ raw, coarse): the ultimate origin is uncertain. The Germanic word is the source of F. sur (12th cent.), whence surelle sorrel n.1
The leading senses of the English word are also prominent in most of the cognate languages.]
A. adj.
I.
1. a. Having a tart or acid taste, such as that which is characteristic of unripe fruits and vinegar. Also said of taste. (Opposed to sweet, and distinguished from bitter.)
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 132 Ᵹenim surne æppel..& leᵹe on. Ibid. III. 212 Winberian sure ᵹeseon, sace ᵹetacnað. c1175Lamb. Hom. 129 Þet ðet weter of egypte wes liðe and swete þan folce of israel þe wes sur and bitere..þon monnen of þan londe. a1310in Wright Lyric P. xlii. 114 Ase fele sythe..As sterres beth in welkne, ant grases sour ant suete. 1340Ayenb. 82 More hi uynt smak in ane zoure epple þanne ine ane huetene lhoue. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 72 Þanne bereth þe croppe kynde fruite,..swete with-oute swellyng, soure worth it neuere. c1460Promp. Parv. (Winch.), Eggyde, as teth ffor sowr ffrute. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop iv. i, [The fox] sayd these raysyns ben sowre. a1529Skelton P. Sparowe 82 The smokes sowre Of Proserpinas bowre. 1558Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. xi. 64 They also dyd eate the lambe with wylde and sowre lettes. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 57 The wylde sortes are both sowrer in taste, and smaller in leafe. 1612Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 306 Add some few drops of oyl Vitriol, to make it some what sower in tast. 1666Boyle Orig. Forms & Qual. 314 Each of them far more salt then Brine, or more sowr then the strongest Vinegar. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. ii. 305 The woods produced sweet and sower oranges. 1799W. Tooke View Russian Emp. I. 288 Of proper sour waters which are applied to medicinal purposes. 1811A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 423 These are substances which have a sour taste. 1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 370 Chloric acid is a sour liquid.
b. transf. Producing tart or acid fruit.
a1000in Birch Cartul. Sax. I. 229 A dune on stream of ða suran apældran. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xi. 207 Shal neuere good appel Þorw no sotel science on sour stock growe. 1560Pilkington Expos. Aggeus (1562) 297 The soure crabtree makes the crabbes bitter, and not the crabbes make the tree evyll. 1687[see next (b)]. 1865C. F. Browne Artemus Ward: his Travels 151 A Vigilance Committee, which hangs the more vicious of the pestiferous crowd to a sour apple-tree. 1922Joyce Ulysses 160 We'll hang Joe Chamberlain on a sourapple tree.
c. In figurative or allusive uses; freq. in connexion with sauce (cf. sauce n. 1 b).
(a)1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 43 Ac her sauce was ouer soure & vnsauourely grounde, In a morter..of many bitter peyne. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxvii. 19 Off quhais subchettis sour is the sals. a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 20 These soure sauces he tasted as a penaunce for his wanton liuyng. 1626R. Peeke Three to One C j, Thus farre, my Voyage for Oranges sped well, but in the end, prooued sower Sawce to me. a1660Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) II. 42 Witty speeches loose theire rellish when they are ouerseasoned with the sowre sawce of reprehension. 1687Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v. Sweet, He has given me sweet Meat, but sowr Sauce, (Prov.).
(b)1415Hoccleve Sir J. Oldcastle 292 Thogh it seeme sour To the taast of your detestable errour. 1525Tindale Expos. (Parker Soc.) 234 Nothing is so sweet that they make not sour with their traditions. c1625Davenport K. John & Matilda iii. ii, The sower sweetnesse of a deluded minute. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. i. 15 Their doctrines may taste too sour of the cask they come through. 1687Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. 11, To be tied to the sowr Apple-tree, for to have an ill Husband. 1720Ramsay Wealth 142 If not, fox-like, I'll..ca' your hundred thousand a sour plum. 1721Kelly Sc. Prov. 186 It is a soure Reek, where the good Wife dings the good Man. 1785Burns Twa Herds v, Nae poisoned sour Arminian stank He let them taste.
2. a. Rendered acid by fermentation or similar processes; fermented; affected or spoiled in this way by being kept or exposed too long.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 34 Ᵹenim þa readan hofan, awyl on surum swatum oþþe on surum ealað. c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 129 Oxygala, sur meolc. 1390Gower Conf. I. 167 And thus of that thei brewe soure I drinke swete. c1425Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 659 Seruicia acerba, sowre ale. c1440Promp. Parv. 466/2 Sowre, as dowe, fermentatus. c1480Henryson Test. Cres. 441 For waillit Wyne and Meitis thou had tho, Tak mowlit Breid, Peirrie, and Ceder sour. 1508Dunbar Poems v. 30 To get hir ane fresche drink, þe aill of hevin wes sour. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xviii. (1634) 713 As with leaven scattered among it, the whole lumpe of dough waxeth sower. 1669Boyle Contn. New Exp. ii. (1682) 168 This Experiment seems to teach us, that Liquors may grow sowre, though no spirits have evaporated from them. 1691Ray N.C. Words (ed. 2) 137 Sower-milk, Butter-milk. Sower from its long standing. 1764Ann. Reg. ii. 11 They throw the fresh caviar into it, and leave it there to grow sour. 1826Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 32 It cannot recover itself, but remains sickly, and becomes sour. 1884Girl's Own Paper 4 Oct. 4/2 The great duty..of the girls..in Mongolia is to milk the cattle..and work up the milk into..sour-cheese, butter, and whisky.
Comb.1661Extr. Rec. Glasgow (Burgh Recs.) 465 The sour milk mercat, quhilk is now keeped at the croce.
b. fig. or in fig. context. Esp. in to go (or turn) sour (on a person).
a1340Hampole Psalter Prol., O wondirful suetnes, þe whilk waxis noght soure thurgh þe corupciouns of þis warld. 1611Bible Hosea iv. 18 Ephraim is ioyned to idoles:..Their drinke is sowre. 1641[see leaven n. 2 a]. 1686tr. Lemery's Course Chem. (ed. 2) Ep. Ded., The sowre Leaven of Intestine Rebellion. 1799[see leaven n. 2 a]. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. iv. ii, General Dumouriez..finds all in sour heat of darkness. 1928Daily Tel. 20 Mar. 11/5 Sir Victor Sassoon..advised the House to pass the bill, as there was a danger of the Government, in racing parlance, ‘going sour’. 1952C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Aeneid ix. 194 Let only my luck stay good And not turn sour on me. 1957A. Macnab Bulls of Iberia xv. 214 He cannot afford to ease up in one or two bulls, or the whole afternoon may go sour on him. 1964L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence 50 What is a cynic but a romanticist turned sour? 1971A. Sampson New Anatomy of Britain 278 It is at the meetings with Treasury men that so many political ideals have been defeated, so many bold promises gone sour. 1981P. Niesewand Word of Gentleman i. 14 Moorhouse and his party had wiped the floor with the opposition... Then suddenly everything went sour.
c. Of smell. Also fig.
c1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 657 Of herbes and tres comes swete savour, And of þe comes wlatsome stynk, and sour. 1530Palsgr. 325/1 Sower of smellyng, sur. 1843Sir C. Scudamore Med. Visit Grafenberg 48 A strong sour smell, like mellow apples. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 12 Of the sour smell about rheumatic patients there can be no doubt.
d. Of breath, eructations, etc.
1578Lyte Dodoens 239 The wambling of the stomacke, and the sower belkes whiche come from the same. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 331 That makes amends for her soure breath. 1607[? Brewer] Lingua iv. iv, Sweet ointment for sowre teeth. 1619Fletcher, etc. Knt. Malta iii. ii, Whose husband Tax'd for his sowre breath by his enemy, Condemn'd his wife, for not acquainting him With his infirmity.
3. a. Of land, etc.: Cold and wet; uncongenial through retaining stagnant moisture.
1532G. Hervet tr. Xenophon's Treat. Househ. (1768) 76 What remedy is there, if the grounde be to weete to sowe in it, or to soure to set trees in it? 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 84 Some breaking vp laie soweth otes to begin, to suck out the moisture so sower therein. 1605Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. i. Vocation 107 Like some rare Fruit-Tree over-topt with spight Of Briers and Bushes which it sore oppresse With the sowr shadow of their thorny tresse. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 241 There is another sort of ground in this County which they call Sour-land. 1707Mortimer Husb. 63 In Oxfordshire..they give their sour Land a tilt, according to the State and Condition of their Lands. 1759Mills tr. Duhamel's Husb. i. viii. (1762) 45 The ground underneath must be of a most cold and sour nature. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 613 Salt..sweetens sour pastures. 1858Glenny Everyday Bk. 189/2 The sour soil that they have been growing in. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 641 Other vast tracts of it are miserably poor sour, sandy clay.
fig.1638Sanderson Serm. (1681) 109 The heart of man is a sowre piece of clay.
transf.1859Meredith R. Feverel ii, In a country of sour pools, yellow brooks, rank pasturage, desolate heath.
b. Of pasture: Having a harsh, unpleasant taste; coarse, rank. Now dial.
1654in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 535 The grass must be mown if it be too sour and long for them. 1673Ray Journ. Low Co. 148 The very Grass which grows under the Trees is sowr and crude. 1828Carr Craven Gloss., Sour, coarse, harsh, applied to grass, which grows on wet land. 1881Evans Leicestersh. Words, Sour,..as applied to herbage, rank and bitter.
c. Of wood, etc.: Green. Now local.
c1475Rauf Coilȝear 910 Sall neuer of sa sour ane brand ane bricht fyre be brocht. 1866J. E. Brogden Prov. Lincs., Sour, green. The hay is too sour to lead.
4. Of petroleum, natural gas, etc.: containing a relatively high proportion of sulphur. Opp. sweet.
1919E. W. Dean Motor Gasoline Properties (U.S. Bureau of Mines Techn. Paper No. 214) 24 There is a possibility that gasoline ‘sour’ to the doctor test may have been the cause of certain reported corrosion of metal parts of carburetors. 1925Petroleum Age 1 Jan. 16/2 Sour oils also have a distinctively unpleasant odor which is absent in sweet oils. 1936W. L. Nelson Petroleum Refinery Engin. xxiv. 527 For ‘sour’ sulfur-bearing light distillates, the doctor treatment must be used. 1967Wall St. Jrnl. 31 Jan. 32/2 Recovery of elemental sulphur from ‘sour’ gas is expected to materially increase available supplies. 1979Economist 11 Aug. 67/1 There is a sour gas formation under the country's best oil field, Yibal.
II.
5. a. Extremely distasteful or disagreeable; bitter, unpleasant.
c1200Ormin 15208 Forr pine iss sur & biteþþ wiþþ & cwennkeþþ erþliȝ kinde. a1250Owl & Night. 866 Þat him beo sur þat er was swete, Þar to ich helpe, god hit wot. c1315Shoreham iv. 422 And her-by þou myȝt, man, y-seo hou here ende hys sour. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 250 Al though it be soure to suffre, þere cometh swete after. Ibid. xx. 46, I mote nede abyde, And suffre sorwes ful sowre þat shal to ioye tourne. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxx. (Percy Soc.) 148 To have release of your great paynes sower. 1576G. Pettie Petite Pallace (1908) I. 45 This life hath been most loathsome and sour vnto me. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 439 These prosperous beginnings brought forth sowre ends. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxv. 133 When they are for Execution of soure labour. 1701Collier M. Aurel. (1726) 302 If so, he has given himself a sour box on the ear. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. iii. i, That sweet Federation was of last year; this sour Divulsion is the selfsame substance. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit. Wks. (Bohn) III. 3 Michael Angelo had a sad, sour time of it.
b. Of music: out of tune.
[1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. iv. 42 How sowre sweet Musicke is, When Time is broke, and no Proportion kept?] 1937Amer. Speech XII. 48/2 Sour, out-of-tune playing. 1976Gramophone Feb. 1356/1 String tone is wirey, even a bit sour in the G minor, especially during loud passages.
6. a. Having a harsh, morose, or peevish disposition; sullen, austere; gloomy, discontented, embittered.
a1225Ancr. R. 114 Grucchunge of bitter & of sur heorte. 1530Palsgr. 325/1 Sower, cursed or shrewde as a woman is that lowreth, malgracieux. 1592Fleming Contn. of Holinshed III. 1360 The one of nature affable, the other altogither sowre. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Ephes. iv. 30 2 And art thou grieved..When I am sowre, And crosse thy love? 1663S. Patrick Parab. Pilgrim (1687) 478 Do not follow your Saviour with a sowre heart, dejected looks, and faln wings. 1709Steele Tatler No. 89 ⁋8 Don't think me a sour Man, for I love Conversation and my Friends. 1779Mirror No. 61, It is not the melancholy of a sour, unsocial being. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. vi. iii, Men's humour is of the sourest. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 172 His temper was sour, arrogant, and impatient of opposition. 1874Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece iii. 65 We might almost imagine that some sour Attic editor had expunged the advice.
absol.1871R. Ellis tr. Catullus xxvii. 6 But dull water, avaunt... Seek the sour, the solemn!
b. Const. upon (a person). rare—1.
1621–31Laud Serm. (1847) 179 ‘Keep unity,’ then, and be sour..upon any that shall endeavour to break it.
7. Displaying, expressing, or implying displeasure or discontent; peevish, cross:
a. Of looks, etc.
c1440Alph. Tales 1 With a sowr cowntenance and a froward luke. 1530Palsgr. 225/2 Glumme, a sower loke. 1598Marston Sco. Villanie iii. ix. 217 Grim-fac't Reproofe,..Bend thy sower browes in my tart poesie. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. State iv. xix. 339 His little eyes can cast a soure glance. 1720Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) VII. 186 He..from his sower Looks is commonly called Vinegar Jones. 1750Gray Long Story 106 Sour visages, enough to scare ye. 1807J. Barlow Columb. i. 103 Dissembling friends..Now pass my cell with smiles of sour disdain. 1833H. Martineau Brooke Farm iii. 29 The sour looks with which the strangers were regarded. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 73 A woman with a sour countenance but rather handsome features.
b. Of words, discourse, opinions, etc.
a1557M. Basset tr. More's Treat. Passion M.'s Wks. 1384/1 With sweete and sower wordes to laboure..to make good men of badde. 1594J. Dickenson Arisbas (1878) 28 To shield me..from the sowre censures of the ouer-curious Moralists of our age. 1614Raleigh Hist. World iii. (1634) 81 Nicias and his companions had a sowre message to deliver at Sparta. 1663J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 17 That Historian, whom we shall easily perceive not more leavened in mind or writing with this kind of sowrer Superstition. 1709Steele Tatler No. 54 ⁋1 He said a sour Thing to Laura at Dinner the other Day; upon which she burst into Tears. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. lx. (1806) IV. 513 The fanaticism which prevailed, being so full of sour and angry principles. 1851Helps Comp. Solit. iii. 31 In delivering a sour discourse on the wickedness of the others. 1871Morley Crit. Misc., Carlyle 235 A system which has raised monstrous floods of sour cant round about us.
c. Of actions.
1659T. Pecke tr. Owen's Epigr. xiii, Sowre is the exit..of the salacious Cyprian Emperess. 1697Dryden æneid xii. 10 He makes a sour retreat, nor mends his pace. 1725Pope Odyss. xi. 693 Touch'd at his sour retreat,..Through hell's black bounds I had pursued his flight. a1740Waterland Serm. iii. (1742) I. 81 God..chuses rather an easy and chearful, than an austere and sower Obedience.
d. Wry; distorted.
1611Cotgr., Morgueur, a maker of strange mouthes, or soure faces. 1822Lamb Elia i. Dissert. on Roast Pig, Make what sour mouths he would for a pretence.
8. Of weather, etc.: Cold and wet; inclement.
1582Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 105 In a winters soure storme must nauye be launched? 1599B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. ii. iv, Is now thy walk too sweet? Thou said'st of late, it had sowr airs about it. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 272 The same day [we] had sower gusts of Wind and Rain. 1722De Foe Col. Jack xi, We had a very sour and rough voyage for the first fortnight. 1773Fergusson Poems (1789) II. 56 Simmer's showery blinks and winter's sour. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. i. vii, The Earth..weeps and blears itself, in sour rain, and worse. 1895‘Setoun’ Sunshine 28 It was a ‘cauld sour day’, nothing but drizzle.
9. Of animals: Heavy, coarse, gross.
1713Lond. Gaz. No. 5148/12 A strong, sower Horse of 6 l. Price. 1854Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. i. 228 They [sheep] are apt to run hairy in the wool, big in the bone, and sour in the head. 1881Evans Leicestersh. Words, Sour, as applied to animals, coarse and gross. 1886in Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., Two..sour, fine-looking mares.
III. 10. Comb. a. Parasynthetic, as sour-blooded, sour-breathed, sour-faced, sour-favoured, sour-featured, sour-hearted, sour-looked, sour-tongued, etc.
1862Thornbury Turner II. 136 Turner was no *sour-blooded recluse.
a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. xiii. (1622) 276 Dametas..had fetched many a *sower-breathed sigh.
1653Walton Angler To Rdr. A v b, If thou be a severe, *sowr complexioned man.
1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 20 Barraine hate, *Sower-ey'd disdaine, and discord.
a1697Aubrey Lives (1813) 511 He had a most remarkable aspect,..long-faced, and *sour eielidded, a kind of pigge-eie.
1589Marprel. Epit. (1843) 28 A *sourfaced knaue. 1883J. Mackenzie Day-dawn in Dark Places 78 Not even Hendrik was sour-faced a day after.
1916Joyce Portrait of Artist iv. 187 The face was eyeless and *sourfavoured.
1830Scott Doom Devorgoil ii. ii, With *sour-featured Whigs the Grass-market was cramm'd.
1679Poor Robin's Intelligence in Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 61 *Sour headed, saddle backed, goose rumped. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 88 The Mother Cow must wear a low'ring Look, Sour-headed, strongly-neck'd.
1673Lond. Gaz. No. 834/4 A *sowr lookt and plain Horse.
1727Bailey (vol. II), Torvity, *sour Lookedness.
c1460Towneley Myst. xiii. 102 She is browyd lyke a brystyll, with a *sowre loten chere. Ibid. xxi. 123 He is sowre lottyn.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iii. 6, I thinke Crab my dog be the *sowrest natured dogge that liues.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 203 A *sour-tempered Skye terrier.
1746Francis tr. Horace, Sat. i. vii. 44 The *sour-tongu'd Mungrel the Dispute renew'd. 1930Blunden Summer's Fancy 22 And black-capped and gowned The sour-tongued master stared and hovered nigh.
1821Scott Kenilw. iii, An aged *sour-visaged domestic.
b. With pres. pples., as sour-looking, sour-smelling.
1611Cotgr., Rechignard, a..soure-looking, or grimme fellow. 1799Campbell Poems, The Harper iii, When the sour-looking folk sent me heartless away. 1838T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 544 When copal is kept melted till a sour smelling aromatic odour has ceased to proceed from it. 1855Leifchild Cornwall 21 A lean, sour-looking man.
c. With ns., forming attributive combs.
1836–48B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Acharnians ii. ii, 'Tis really terrible for men to have Such sour-grape tempers. 1881Academy No. 492. 271 Of the sour-zealot order. 1898Daily News 24 Mar. 2/5 A private conviction of the sour grapes order.
11. Special collocations (frequently hyphened), as sourball, sour-ball U.S., (a) a peevish or sour-tempered person; also attrib. or as adj.; (b) a boiled sweet with an acid taste; sour beef U.S. local = sauerbraten; sour bread, † (a) leavened bread; (b) U.S., sourdough bread; sour cake, an oat- or rye-cake made of fermented dough; † sour cheer, bitter feeling; sour cherry, the common cherry; sour cream, spec. fresh cream soured by the addition of lactic acid; sour crop Vet. Sci., oidiomycosis of chickens, turkeys, or other poultry, producing a crop filled with foul-smelling liquid and often thickened and ulcerated; sour gourd, (the fruit of) the Baobab, Adansonia digitata, or the related species A. gregorii; sour grapes: see grape n.1 1 a; hence sour-grapeism, the action or practice of disparaging something because it is out of one's reach; sour-grapey a., disparaging because something is out of reach; sour-grapiness; † sour greme, bitter grief or anger; sour gum (U.S.), kettle, (see quots.); sour-mash U.S., (whisky made from) fermenting grain mash; also attrib.; sour orange, the Seville orange, Citrus aurantium distinguished by its thick skin and bitter pulp; also, the tree bearing this fruit; also attrib.; sour plum (see quots.); sourpuss, sour-puss slang (orig. U.S.) [puss n.2], a sour-faced person; a grumbler; a killjoy; also attrib.; so sour-pussed a., sour-faced, miserable; † sour swig, sour liquor or drink (fig.); sour tree = sour wood; sour veld(t) S. Afr., grassland covered with coarse grass lacking nutritive value; sour water, water soured by fermentation, esp. in the process of starch-making; sour wood U.S., the sorrel-tree.
A number of others in dial. use are given in the Eng. Dial. Dict.
1900Dialect Notes II. 62 *Sour-ball, a chronic grumbler. 1933Manufacturing Chemist Nov. 41/1 Assorted Sour Balls (purchased in a railroad depot, Boston, Mass.)... Balls had a coating of grain. 1935J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra iv. 123 My God, you're sourball tonight. 1962E. Lacy Freeloaders vi. 113 You think Gil is nuts? He's been acting the sourball all day. 1964[see halva]. 1976N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 Apr. 33/1 The witness from those years is overwhelming, and not just from snobbish intellectuals and sourball novelists.
1935Evening Sun (Baltimore) 2 Mar. 18/3 Mrs. Haberkorn was ‘a world champion’ *sour beef cooker. 1947Sun (Baltimore) 3 Nov. 11/8 (Advt.), Old fashioned sour beef & dumplings. 1968E. Staebler Food that really Schmecks 36 Sauerbraten (Sour Beef Pot Roast).
a1300Cursor M. 6166 And neuer mar þat dai til ete Na *surbred ne nanoþer mete. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xiii. 59 Þai..makes þe sacrement of þe awter of soure bred as þe Grekes duse. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxi. §2 There is no Jewish paschal solemnity nor abstinence from sour bread now required at our hands. 1884H. A. Dwight Bread-Making 46 Sour bread is such a common evil that a special chapter should be given to it... Sour bread follows..as a consequence of sour yeast. 1902W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 196 Then for two weeks he ate the coarse, rapid food—the shapeless sour bread, the wild strange meat. 1977H. Fast Immigrants iii. 201 Lunch was homemade sausage meat..and fresh milk as thick as cream, and with it Mary Gallagher's home-baked sour bread and home-churned butter.
1793D. Ure Hist. Rutherglen 94 Another ancient custom, for the observance of which Rutherglen has long been famous, is the baking of *sour cakes. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede viii, They..look as if they'd never tasted nothing better than bacon-sword and sour-cake i' their lives.
c1400Destr. Troy 9127 With remyng, & rauthe, & myche rife sorow, Sobbyng & *sourcher soght fro þere herttes. c1440Promp. Parv. 466/2 Sowre chere, acrimonia.
1884tr. De Candolle's Orig. Cultivated Pl. 207 *Sour Cherry—Prunus cerasus.
1855E. Acton Mod. Cookery (rev. ed.) vi. 143 ‘*Sour cream’ is an ingredient not much approved by English taste, but it enters largely into German cookery. 1961‘E. Lathen’ Banking on Death (1962) iii. 22 Roast beef, baked potato—‘For God's sake, no sour cream!’ 1978D. Francis Trial Run iii. 45 The object of her curiosity..spooned sour cream into his borsch.
1951,1975*Sour crop [see oidiomycosis]. 1975B. Meyrick Behind Light xv. 199 ‘Sour crop,’ he announced..as he gently felt the chicken's full crop.
1640Parkinson Theat. Bot. 1632 The Ethiopian *sowre Gourde..groweth in Mozambique..on a faire great tree. 1760J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 327 Sour Gourd, æthiopian, Adansonia. 1857Henfrey Bot. 247 The fruit of the Baobab, the Monkey-bread or Ethiopian Sour-gourd, has an agreeable acid pulp. 1887Bentley Man. Bot. 481 A[dansonia] Gregorii... A native of North Australia, where it is known as Sour-gourd and Cream-of-tartar tree.
1853Mrs. Gaskell Cranford i. 5 There, economy was always ‘elegant’, and money-spending always ‘vulgar and ostentatious’; a sort of *sour grapeism which made us very peaceful and satisfied. 1957R. W. Zandvoort Handbk. Eng. Gram. ix. ii. 307 The suffix is added to syntactic word groups..in such formations as sour-grapeism, [etc.].
1962Punch 11 Apr. 579/1 It may have sounded a silly and *sour-grapey sort of thing to say. 1980Good Housekeeping Nov. 15/3 Perhaps I'm being a tiny bit sour grapey.
1970Guardian 30 July 9/4 One Amsterdam camp site owner who..almost moulded away with *sour grapiness.
c1400Destr. Troy 2053 Soche a sorow & a *sourgreme sanke in his hert. Ibid. 9042 For sorow & sorgrym of his sonnys dethe.
1814F. Pursh Flora Amer. Sept. I. 177 Nyssa villosa... This tree is known by the name of *Sour-gum. 1880Bessey Botany 519 The wood of Nyssa multiflora, the Sour Gum, Tupelo, or Peppridge tree of the Eastern United States.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2250/1 *Sour-kettle, a vessel used in souring bleached cloth.
1885‘C. E. Craddock’ Prophet of Gt. Smoky Mountains 150 Him an' me run a *sour mash still on the top o' the mounting. 1892‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claimant i. 23 Over-confidence and gaiety induced by over⁓plus of sour-mash. 1958‘W. Henry’ Seven Men at Mimbres Springs 216 The reservation doctor..was definitely given to a rigorous regimen of sourmash Kentucky bond taken internally for pain as self-directed. 1976T. Stoppard Dirty Linen 65 Big bellied, red-eyed men in white crumpled suits swig from medicine bottles of two-year-old sour mash bourbon.
[1890E. Bonavia Cultivated Oranges & Lemons pl. vi, The Seville Orange of Kandy..known there by the name of Amool Dódan (sour round orange).] 1920H. J. Webber in Bull. Calif. Agric. Exper. Station No. 317. 268 An examination of sweet and *sour orange seedling stock..showed the presence of many widely different types. 1926H. H. Hume Cultivation of Citrus Fruits iv. 45 Sour oranges, or bigarades, are distinguished from the sweet varieties by their broadly winged petioles. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling i. 12 There were..sour orange biscuits. 1973Advocate-News (Barbados) 26 Feb. 5/1 A virus of unknown nature..was found to be infecting sour orange seedlings.
1874Treas. Bot. Suppl. 1324/2 Owenia venosa is known by the name of the *Sour Plum amongst the colonists. 1889J. H. Maiden Usef. Plants 49 Owenia acidula,..‘Sour Plum’, ‘Native Peach or Nectarine’. 1898Morris Austral Eng. 427 Sour-Plum, the Emu-apple.
1937Sun (Baltimore) 28 May 14/7 Hadley doesn't look like the kind of *sour-puss who would do that. 1942Penguin New Writing XV. 92 He pretends to be more interested in the antics of his birds than in the puffings an' blowings of a sourpuss of a council clerk. 1960Guardian 15 Mar. 7/3 It's about time we got away from sourpuss champions. 1966‘H. MacDiarmid’ Company I've Kept i. 34 All the Moral Rearmers and other sour-pusses in Scotland. 1980Logophile IV. i. 45/2 He had always been henpecked by his wife, a sourpuss with a waspish temper.
1952J. Steinbeck East of Eden xlvii. 520 Henry was a man who liked fun—needed it. A *sour-pussed associate could make him sick.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke vi. 74 Hauing been long accustomed to the olde *soureswyg of Moses lawe.
1717Petiveriana III. 247 Sorrel or *Sowre-tree. Because its Leaves have that Taste.
[1801Sour veldt: see sour grass 3.] 1863J. S. Dobie S. Afr. Jrnl. (1945) 76 On across the Little Tugela..over rank *sour-veldt grass. 1894T. R. Sim Sk. Flora Kaffraria 14 The sour veld..is composed of rank strong growing grasses. 1948Star (Johannesburg) 20 Oct. 3/7 Sourveld management presents formidable problems. 1978Jrnl. Afr. Hist. XIX. 479 Seasonal loss of nutrition of the plateau grasses (i.e. the presence of sourveld).
1816Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 554 Water in which the bran has been allowed to become sour, and which is called sours, or *sour water. 1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 1084 The starch suspended in a very foul acid liquor, called sour water.
1856A. Gray Man. Bot. 254 Oxydendrum, Sorrel-tree. *Sour-wood. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 430 Sour wood (Andromeda arborea), a beautiful tree, which..is sometimes called Sorrel tree. 1880New Virgin. II. 171 There were quantities of the pretty, graceful sourwood—the Oxydendrum arboreum.
B. n.1
1. That which is sour, in lit. or fig. senses. Used without article, or with the, a, etc.
(a)c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 56 Sele drincan middeldaᵹum, & forga sur & sealtes ᵹehwæt. c1400Rom. Rose 5059 He is a wrecche..That loved such one, for swete or soure. c142026 Pol. Poems xvii. 131 For oure swete, he drank ful soure. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) i. 107 As waspis ressauis of þe same bot soure, So reprobatis Christis buke dois rebute. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 242 You haue bene a Trauailer and tasted nothing but sowre. 1612J. Davies (Heref.) Muse's Sacrifice Wks. (Grosart) II. 12/2 Mellefluous Sweetnesse..Sweeten my Sowre. 1657J. Trapp Comm. Neh. i. 8 Sower and sweet maketh best sawce. 1881D. Thomson Musings among Heather 191 We likewise find Our sour gey aften mix'd wi' sweet.
(b)a1300Cursor M. 23979 He dranc þe sure and i þe suete. 1390Gower Conf. III. 12 Tuo tonnes fulle of love drinke,..of the soure or of the swete. 1448–9J. Metham Wks. (E.E.T.S.) 52, I be myn one schal bothe the sqwete and the soure For yow endure. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 4 Hym cunne I thanke, that bothe can and will, once mingle sweet emong the sower. 1584–7Greene Carde of Fancie Wks. (Grosart) IV. 110 By the sweete (quoth hee) how should we know the sower? 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. lxix. (1674) 86 The Sower of obeying, and Sweet of commanding. 1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. vi. 177 Many People give their Patients..Conserves of the sowre of Citron. 1724Ramsay Tea-Table Misc. Ded. vi, Their sangs may ward ye frae the sour, And gaily vacant minutes pass.
(c)13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 820 Wyth no sour ne no salt seruez hym neuer. 1402in Yorks. Arch. Jrnl. XX. 47 Thus did God dele, For swete, a sour. 1592Breton C'tess Pembroke's Love Wks. (Grosart) I. 24/1 Sowing the sweete, that killeth euery sower. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 867 The sweets we wish for, turne to lothed sowrs. 1634Massinger Very Woman iv. ii, We have not an hour of life In which our pleasures relish not some pain, Our sours some sweetness. 1714Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) I. 107 Loaf sugar..prevents the injuries which a gnawing sower might do to the bowels. 1816L. Hunt Rimini iii. 64 He kept no reckoning with his sweets and sours. 1900S. Weyman Sophia xv, The only sour in his cup..arose from his costume.
2. In bleaching and tanning, a bath or steep of an acid character.
1756F. Home Exper. Bleaching 28 Sours made with bran, or rye meal, and water, are often used instead of milk. 1778Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 125 The bleachers of linen make use of a sour prepared by diluting the strong spirit of vitriol. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 137 They are thence removed to the sours. 1860Tomlinson Usef. Arts, Leather Manuf. 12 The skins are..immersed for twelve hours in a very weak solution of sulphuric acid, called sours. 1873Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 30/2 After being cleaned or scalded, discharge in a hot vitriol sour.
3. U.S. An acid drink, usually whisky or other spirit with lemon added.
1862J. Thomas How to mix Drinks 59 The brandy sour is made with the same ingredients as the brandy fix, omitting all fruits. 1885Pall Mall G. 10 Feb. 2/2, I prefer..‘swapping stories’ to sipping ‘whisky sours’. 1889Ibid. 20 June 3/2 Sours are made principally with whisky or brandy, or Santa Cruz rum.
▪ II. sour, n.2|saʊə(r)|
[f. sour v.]
An act of souring, spec. in bleaching (see prec. B. 2).
1839Ure Dict. Arts 135 If the goods be strong, they will require another boil, steep, and sour.
▪ III. sour, adv.|saʊə(r)|
Also 4–5 sure, soure, 6–7 sowre.
[ME. sūre, f. sūr sour a. Cf. MDu. sure, zure.]
†1. Bitterly, dearly; severely. Obs.
c1300Havelok 2005 Þus wolde þe theues me haue reft But God-þank, he hauenet sure keft. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 361 It shal bisitten vs ful soure þe siluer þat we kepen. c1386Chaucer Sir Thopas 111 And yit I hope..That thou schalt with this launcegay Abyen it ful soure. a1400–50Alexander 2313 Þai said, soure suld him sowe bot he þe cite ȝeld.
2. Disagreeably, unpleasantly; crossly, gloomily, unfavourably. Chiefly in phr. to look sour.
In some cases perh. the adj. used predicatively.
1500–20Dunbar Poems liii. 37 God waitt gif that scho loukit sour! 1531Tindale Expos. 1 John (1537) 33 God hath no rodde in his hande, nor loketh sowre. 1557N.T. (Geneva) Matt. vi. 16 When ye fast, loke not sowre as the hypocrites do. 1629Maxwell tr. Herodian 49 The Roman Citizens being thus surrounded with direfull Mis-haps,..began to looke sowre vpon Commodus. 1693Locke Educ. 58 When the Father or Mother looks sowre on the Child. 1833H. Martineau Brooke Farm vi. 73 If anything ever did make him look sour, it was his dinner not being ready. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. i. vi. v, Nor has public speaking declined, though Lafayette and his Patrols look sour on it.
▪ IV. sour, v.|saʊə(r)|
Forms: 4–7 soure (4 zoure), 4–8 sowr(e, 6–8 sower, 7– sour.
[f. sour a. Cf. WFris. sûrje, MDu. suren (Du. zuren), LG. sûren, OHG. sûrên (MHG. sûren, G. sauern) to become sour; also MHG. siuren (G. säuern), LG. süren, NFris. sürre, MSw. and Sw. syra to make sour.]
1. a. intr. To become sour; to acquire a sour taste.
13..[see b]. 1390Gower Conf. I. 82 Fulofte and thus the swete soureth, Whan it is knowe to the tast. 1442Lett. Marg. Anjou & Bp. Beckington (Camden) 80 Youre wynes shall nother soure nor stande base, for defaulte of drynkers. 1530Palsgr. 640/1, I do some good in the house, I keep breed from moldyng and drinke from sowryng. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 147 Made of two sorts of milke,..it soone sowreth. 1600Surflet Countrie Farme iii. xlix. 532 The cyder made of sweete apples, hauing a soft and tender flesh, is more apt to sowre. 1662R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 155 Neither will the Oyl sowre so soon. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. i. 268 Milk when it sours on the Stomach. 1776Johnson in Boswell 12 Apr. (Oxf. ed.) II. 28 He cannot find in his heart to pour out a bottle of wine; but he would not much care if it should sour. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 608 It is absolutely necessary that the lime..be allowed to remain a considerable time macerating or souring in water. 1881Sheldon Dairy Farming 314 Used in milk it has the effect of preventing the faintest approach of souring, for at least a week, in the hottest of weather.
fig.16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. ii. 165 Such barmy heads wil alwaies be working, when as sad vinegar wittes sit souring at the bottome of a barrell. 1657Reeve God's Plea 2 This it is..to lye sowring in the leaven of discontent.
b. fig. To change or turn to a bitter feeling. Also without const.
13..K. Alis. 7002 (Laud MS.), Hote loue often after wil soure. 1678Dryden All for Love ii. i, Love once past, is, at the best, forgotten; But oftner sours to Hate. 1742Young Nt. Th. i. 338 Like bosom friendships to resentment sour'd. 1885–94R. Bridges Eros & Psyche May xxx, Thy sisters' love, seeing thee honour'd so, Will sour to envy.
c. To become embittered, morose, or peevish.
1748Thomson Cast. Indol. i. xvii, They hate to mingle in the filthy fray, Where the soul sours, and gradual rancour grows. 1754Richardson Grandison VII. xlii. 202 A single woman..remains solitary and unheeded, in a busy bustling world; perhaps soured to it by her unconnected state. 1842Tennyson Walking to Mail 53 She sour'd To what she is: a nature never kind! 1893Daily News 29 Sept. 3/1 They sour and degenerate, grow cynical and misanthropic.
d. to sour on, to take a dislike or distaste to (a person or thing). orig. U.S.
1862in Thornton Amer. Gloss. s.v., Guess the M.P. will ‘sour’ on William C., when he has seen him for about fifteen minutes. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 205 The curious expression of souring on an unpleasant task or occupation. 1900Daily News 13 Nov. 9/3 Dan soured on Castlereagh boys..forthwith.
2. a. trans. Of leaven: To cause fermentation in (dough, etc.).
1340Ayenb. 205 Ase þe leuayne zoureþ þet doȝ and hit draȝþ to smac. 1382Wyclif Exod. xii. 34 Thanne the puple tok sprengid meel, or it were sowrid. 1526Tindale 1 Cor. v. 6 A lytell leven sowereth the whole lompe of dowe. 1642J. Ball Answ. to Can ii. 34 A little leaven sowreth the whole masse. 1872J. G. Murphy Comm. Lev. ii. 11 Leaven is a portion of sour dough, which, when mingled with the fresh mass, sours it also.
b. fig. or in fig. context.
1390Gower Conf. I. 294 He is the levein of the bred, Which soureth al the past aboute. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. ⁋9 Such as are, if not frozen in the dregs, yet sowred with the leauen of their superstition. 1647Hist. Anabaptists 17 Seducing many, and sowring the new Lump of the Church with the Leaven of his perverse doctrine. c1730Swift Serm. vii. Wks. 1841 II. 156/2 The smallest mixture of that leaven will sour the whole lump.
3. a. To make sour or acid; esp. to cause to have a tart or sour taste; to spoil in this way.
c1460Promp. Parv. (Winch.) 461 Sowryn, or make sowre, aceo. 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 161 To sowre all the wines in Rome, and turne them to vineger. 1632Sanderson Serm. 467 A nasty vessell sowreth all that is put into it. c1685Dk. Buckingham Conf. Wks. 1705 II. 45 He..Sours our Palm Wine, spoils our Victuals. 1715Addison Drummer i. i, He'll sour all the beer in my barrels. 1746Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. ii. 77 For tainted Vessels sour what they contain. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xii, In case the thunner should hae soured ours at the castle. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 608 Allowing no more lime..than is just sufficient to macerate or sour it with the water. 1903Daily Chron. 12 Jan. 7/1 A germ that was souring each brew of beer in a large brewery.
fig.1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. xi, We not intend to sowre your late delights With harsh expostulation. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 102 Three crabbed Moneths had sowr'd themselues to death. 1645Quarles Sol. Recant. v, This sowers all thy sweets, sads all thy Rest. 1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. 10 To have other by-ends in good actions sowers laudable performances. 1720Ozell tr. Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. i. 47 Appius..could not help sowering the Usefulness of his Counsels with the Austerity of his Character. 1826Lamb Elia ii. Wedding, The awful eye of the parson..souring my incipient jest to the tristful severities of a funeral. 1859J. Marshall Hist. Scottish Affairs x. 218 Education in him had not sweetened nature, but nature had soured education.
b. To make (land) cold and wet.
1842J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 185 It is drenched, soured, and turned into mire through the winter. 1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 262 To allow any excess of water to drain off into a place where it cannot sour the soil.
c. Bleaching. To subject to the action of diluted acids. Also with off.
1756F. Home Exper. Bleaching 80 In a bleachfield, when they were drawing a parcel of coarse cloth soured in this manner. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 136 After which, they are completely rinsed in pure spring water, and then soured. 1873Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 15/1 Then sour the whole in a bath of sulphuric acid. 1875F. J. Bird Dyer's Hand-bk. 52 After cleaning goods should be soured off.
4. a. To render sour, gloomy, or morose; to embitter (the mind, temper, etc.).
1599B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. Introd., This protraction is able to sour the best settled patience in the theatre. 1709Strype Ann. Ref. I. lii. 522 To sowre the Minds of the Subjects against the Queen. a1770Jortin Serm. (1771) I. v. 91 Their piety is of that sort which sours the temper. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxix. IV. 32 His mind was soured by indignation. 1838Lytton Alice 133 Whose heart his schemes had prematurely soured. 1856Macaulay Misc. Writ. (1882) 314 Continued adversity had soured Johnson's temper. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 261 Physical and mental misery, which soured her disposition.
b. With personal object. In pa. pple., also (U.S. and Austral. colloq.) const. on (the source of embitterment, etc.).
1669Temple Lett. (1700) II. 127 The Suedish Court, sowered by the ill Treatment..of their Ministers, will [etc.]. 1701W. Wotton Hist. Rome 220 These Losses did exceedingly sowre the People. 1769Robertson Chas. V, x. Wks. 1813 III. 208 Philip, sowered by his disappointment, was sent back to Spain. 1832H. Martineau Homes Abroad i. 12 What sours..him more than to work and work from year to year in vain? 1878Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 9 He seems to us a man..whose conscience..had soured him. 1897Badminton Mag. IV. 389 The filly, soured by our recent encounter, reared. 1898E. N. Westcott David Harum xli. 346 He's kind o' soured on the hull thing. 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xvii. 225 ‘Fact is,’ said the packer, ‘we're gettin' er bit soured on wimmin.’ 1907St. Nicholas XXXIV. 601/2 Maybe if I get any more soured on Hammond I'll skate over with my trunk and try Ferry Hill.
†c. To invest with a sour expression. Obs. rare.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 185 Adonis..Souring his cheeks cries ‘Fie, no more of love!’ 1593― Rich. II, ii. i. 169. |