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sour

/ˈsaʊə/

noun

Meaning

  • The sensation of a sour taste.

  • A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.

  • (by extension) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.

  • A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.

  • The acidic solution used in souring fabric.

verb

Meaning

  • To make sour.

    "Too much lemon juice will sour the recipe."

  • To become sour.

  • To spoil or mar; to make disenchanted.

  • To become disenchanted.

    "We broke up after our relationship soured."

  • To make (soil) cold and unproductive.

  • To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.

  • To process (fabric) after bleaching, using hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid to wash out the lime.

adjective

Meaning

  • Having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste.

    "Lemons have a sour taste."

  • Made rancid by fermentation, etc.

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

  • Tasting or smelling rancid.

    "His sour breath makes it unpleasing to talk to him."

  • (of a person's character) Peevish or bad-tempered.

    "He gave me a sour look."

  • (of soil) Excessively acidic and thus infertile.

    "a sour marsh"

  • (of petroleum) Containing excess sulfur.

    "sour gas smells like rotten eggs"

  • Unfortunate or unfavorable.

  • Off-pitch, out of tune.