sour

Lemons have a sour taste.

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:

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

His sour breath makes it unpleasing to talk to him.

He gave me a sour look.

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]:

(of a person's character) Hostile or unfriendly.

sour land

a sour marsh

Excessively acidic and thus infertile. (of soil)

sour gas smells like rotten eggs

Containing excess sulfur. (of petroleum)

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]:

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:

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:

en-adj

sour (comparative sourer, superlative sourest)

sourer (comparative)
sourest (superlative)

киселинен

(of soil) excessively acidic and thus infertile

From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”).
Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sur, French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”),
Polish ser (“cheese”),
Czech sýr (“cheese”),
Slovak syr (“cheese”),
Russian сырой (syroj, “raw”),
Ukrainian сири́й (syrýj, “raw”),
Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).


sour

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

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

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

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

A sweet/candy having a sharply sour taste.

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:

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

The acidic solution used in souring fabric.

en-noun

sour (countable and uncountable, plural sours)

Whiskey Sauer

a drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar


sour

Too much lemon juice will sour the recipe.

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

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

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]:

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:

(transitive) To spoil or mar; to make disenchanted.

We broke up after our relationship soured.

stagnant water , which tends to sour the soil

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

(transitive) To make (soil) cold and unproductive.

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

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

en-verb

sour (third-person singular simple present sours, present participle souring, simple past and past participle soured)

sours (present singular third-person)
souring (participle present)
soured (participle past)
soured (past)
sour (infinitive)


sour

fr-adj

sour (feminine soure, masculine plural sours, feminine plural soures)

soure (feminine)
sours (masculine plural)
soures (feminine plural)


sour

English: sour

Scots: sour