Sour a. and sb.¹

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. сырон) moist, raw (Russ. суровыи raw, coarse): the ultimate origin is uncertain. The Germanic word is the source of F. sur (12th cent.), whence surelle SORREL sb.¹

  The leading senses of the English word are also prominent in most of the cognate languages.]

  A.  adj. I. 1. 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.)

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 132. ʓenim surne æppel … & leʓe on. Ibid., III. 212. Winberian sure ʓeseon, sace ʓetacnað.

c. 1175.  Lamb. 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.

a. 1310.  in Wright, Lyric P., xlii. 114. Ase fele sythe … As sterres beth in welkne, ant grases sour ant suete.

1340.  Ayenb., 82. More hi uynt smak in ane zoure epple þanne ine ane huetene lhoue.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 72. Þanne bereth þe croppe kynde fruite,… swete with-oute swellyng, soure worth it neuere.

c. 1460.  Promp. Parv. (Winch.), Eggyde, as teth ffor sowr ffrute.

1484.  Caxton, Fables of Æsop, IV. i. [The fox] sayd these raysyns ben sowre.

a. 1529.  Skelton, P. Sparowe, 82. The smokes sowre Of Proserpinas bowre.

1558.  Bp. Watson, Sev. Sacram., xi. 64. They also dyd eate the lambe with wylde and sowre lettes.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 57. The wylde sortes are both sowrer in taste, and smaller in leafe.

1612.  Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1653), 306. Add some few drops of oyl Vitriol, to make it some what sower in tast.

1666.  Boyle, Orig. Formes & Qual., 314. Each of them far more salt then Brine, or more sowr then the strongest Vinegar.

1748.  Anson’s Voy., III. ii. 305. The woods afforded sweet and sower oranges.

1799.  W. Tooke, View Russian Emp., I. 288. Of proper sour waters which are applied to medicinal purposes.

1811.  A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), 423. These [sc. acids] are substances which have a sour taste.

1836–41.  Brande, Chem. (ed. 5), 370. Chloric acid is a sour liquid.

  b.  transf. Producing tart or acid fruit.

a. 1000.  in Birch, Cartul. Sax., I. 229. A dune on stream of ða suran apældran.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XI. 207. Shal neuere good appel Þorw no sotel science on sour stock growe.

1560.  Pilkington, Expos. Aggeus (1562), 297. The soure crabtree makes the crabbes bitter, and not the crabbes make the tree evyll.

1687.  [see next (b)].

  c.  In figurative or allusive uses; freq. in connection with sauce (cf. SAUCE sb. 1 b).

  (a)  1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XIII. 43. Ac her sauce was ouer soure & vnsauourely grounde, In a morter … of many bitter peyne.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxvii. 19. Off quhais subchettis sour is the sals.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 20. These soure sauces he tasted as a penaunce for his wanton liuyng.

1626.  Peeke, Three to One, C j. Thus farre, my Voyage for Oranges sped well, but in the end, prooued sower Sawce to me.

a. 1660.  Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), II. 42. Witty speeches loose theire rellish when they are ouerseasoned with the sowre sawce of reprehension.

1687.  Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. s.v. Sweet, He has given me sweet Meat, but sowr Sauce, (Prov.).

  (b)  1415.  Hoccleve, Sir J. Oldcastle, 292. Thogh it seeme sour To the taast of your detestable errour.

1525.  Tindale, Expos. (Parker Soc.), 334. Nothing is so sweet that they make not sour with their traditions.

c. 1625.  Davenport, K. John & Matilda, III. ii. The sower sweetnesse of a deluded minute.

a. 1652.  J. Smith, Sel. Disc., i. 15. Their doctrines may taste too sour of the cask they come through.

1687.  Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. To be tied to the sowr Apple-tree, for to have an ill Husband.

1720.  Ramsay, Wealth, 142. If not, fox-like, I’ll … ca’ your hundred thousand a sour plum.

1721.  Kelly, Sc. Prov., 186. It is a soure Reek, where the good Wife dings the good Man.

1785.  Burns, Twa Herds, v. Nae poisoned sour Arminian stank He let them taste.

  2.  Rendered acid by fermentation or similar processes; fermented; affected or spoiled in this way by being kept or exposed too long.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 34. ʓenim þa readan hofan, awyl on surum swatum oþþe on surum ealað.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 129. Oxygala, sur meolc.

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 167. And thus of that thei brewe soure I drinke swete.

c. 1425.  Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 659. Seruicia acerba, sowre ale.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 466/2. Sowre, as dowe, fermentatus.

c. 1480.  Henryson, Test. Cres., 441. For waillit Wyne and Meitis thou had tho, Tak mowlit Breid, Peirrie, and Ceder sour.

1508.  Dunbar, Poems, v. 30. To get hir ane fresche drink, þe aill of hevin wes sour.

1561.  T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., IV. xviii. (1634), 713. As with leaven scattered among it, the whole lumpe of dough waxeth sower.

1669.  Boyle, Contn. New Exp., II. (1682), 168. This Experiment seems to teach us, that Liquors may grow sowre, though no spirits have evaporated from them.

1691.  Ray, N. Co. Words (ed. 2), 137. Sower-milk, Butter-milk. Sower from its long standing.

1764.  Ann. Reg., II. 11. They throw the fresh caviar into it, and leave it there to grow sour.

1826.  Art of Brewing (ed. 2), 32. It cannot recover itself, but remains sickly, and becomes sour.

1884.  Girl’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.  1661.  Extr. Rec. Glasgow (Burgh Recs.), 465. The sour milk mercat, quhilk is now keeped at the croce.

  b.  fig. or in fig. context.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, Prol. O wondirful suetnes, þe whilk waxis noght soure thurgh þe corupciouns of þis warld.

1611.  Bible, Hosea iv. 17–8. Ephraim is ioyned to idoles:… Their drinke is sowre.

1641.  [see LEAVEN sb. 2 a].

1686.  trans. Lemery’s Course Chem. (ed. 2), Ep. Ded. The sowre Leaven of Intestine Rebellion.

1799.  [see LEAVEN sb. 2 a].

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. IV. ii. General Dumouriez … finds all in sour heat of darkness.

  c.  Of smell. Also fig.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 657. Of herbes and tres comes swete savour, And of þe comes wlatsome stynk, and sour.

1530.  Palsgr., 325/1. Sower of smellyng, sur.

1843.  Sir C. Scudamore, Med. Visit Gräfenberg, 48. A strong sour smell, like mellow apples.

1897.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 12. Of the sour smell about rheumatic patients there can be no doubt.

  d.  Of breath, eructations, etc.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, 239. The wambling of the stomacke, and the sower belkes whiche come from the same.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 331. That makes amends for her soure breath.

1607.  [? Brewer], Lingua, IV. iv. Sweet ointment for sowre teeth.

1619.  Fletcher, 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.

1532.  Hervet, trans. 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?

1573.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 84. Some breaking vp laie soweth otes to begin, to suck out the moisture so sower therein.

1605.  Sylvester, 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.

1677.  Plot, Oxfordsh., 241. There is another sort of ground in this County which they call Sour-land.

1707.  Mortimer, Husb., 63. In Oxfordshire … they give their sour Land a tilt, according to the State and Condition of their Lands.

1759.  Mills, trans. Duhamel’s Husb., I. viii. (1762), 45. The ground underneath must be of a most cold and sour nature.

1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 613. Salt … sweetens sour pastures.

1858.  Glenny, Everyday Bk., 189/2. The sour soil that they have been growing in.

1897.  Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 641. Other vast tracts of it are miserably poor, sour, sandy clay.

  fig.  1638.  Sanderson, Serm. (1681), 109. The heart of man is a sowre piece of clay.

  transf.  1859.  Meredith, 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.

1654.  in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 535. The grass must be mown if it be too sour and long for them.

1673.  Ray, Journ. Low C., 148. The very Grass which grows under the Trees is sowr and crude.

1828.  Carr, Craven Gloss., Sour, coarse, harsh, applied to grass, which grows on wet land.

1881.  Evans, Leicestersh. Words, Sour,… as applied to herbage, rank and bitter.

  c.  Of wood, etc.: Green. Now local.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 910. Sall neuer of sa sour ane brand ane bricht fyre be brocht.

1866.  Brogden, Prov. Lincs., Sour, green. The hay is too sour to lead.

  II.  4. Extremely distasteful or disagreeable; bitter, unpleasant.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 15208. Forr pine iss sur & biteþþ wiþþ & cwennkeþþ erþliȝ kinde.

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 866. Þat him beo sur þat er was swete, Þar to ich helpe, god hit wot.

c. 1315.  Shoreham, IV. 422. And her-by þou myȝt, man, y-seo hou here ende hys sour.

1377.  Langl., 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.

1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXX. (Percy Soc.), 148. To have release of your great paynes sower.

1576.  Pettie, Petite Pallace (1908), I. 45. This life hath been most loathsome and sour vnto me.

1630.  R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 439. These prosperous beginnings brought forth sowre ends.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxv. 133. When they are for Execution of soure labour.

1701.  Collier, M. Aurel. (1726), 302. If so, he has given himself a sour box on the ear.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. III. i. That sweet Federation was of last year; this sour Divulsion is the selfsame substance.

1870.  Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Wks. (Bohn), III. 3. Michael Angelo had a sad, sour time of it.

  5.  Having a harsh, morose or peevish disposition; sullen, austere; gloomy, discontented, embittered.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 114. Grucchunge of bitter & of sur heorte.

1530.  Palsgr., 325/1. Sower, cursed or shrewde as a woman is that lowreth, malgracieux.

1592.  Fleming, Contn. of Holinshed, III. 1360. The one of nature affable, the other altogither sowre.

1633.  G. Herbert, Temple, Ephes. iv. 30, 2. And art thou grieved … When I am sowre, And crosse thy love?

1663.  S. Patrick, Parab. Pilgrim (1687), 478. Do not follow your Saviour with a sowre heart, dejected looks, and faln wings.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 89, ¶ 8. Don’t think me a sour Man, for I love Conversation and my Friends.

1779.  Mirror, No. 61. It is not the melancholy of a sour, unsocial being.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. VI. iii. Men’s humour is of the sourest.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 172. His temper was sour, arrogant, and impatient of opposition.

1874.  Mahaffy, Soc. Life Greece, iii. 65. We might almost imagine that some sour Attic editor had expunged the advice.

  absol.  1871.  R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, xxvii. 6. But dull water, avaunt…. Seek the sour, the solemn!

  b.  Const. upon (a person). rare^–1.

1621–31.  Laud, Serm. (1847), 179. ‘Keep unity,’ then, and be sour … upon any that shall endeavour to break it.

  6.  Displaying, expressing, or implying displeasure or discontent; peevish, cross: a. Of looks, etc.

c. 1440.  Alph. Tales, 1. With a sowr cowntenance and a froward luke.

1530.  Palsgr., 225/2. Glumme, a sower loke.

1598.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, III. ix. 217. Grim-fac’t Reproofe,… Bend thy sower browes in my tart poesie.

1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., IV. xix. 339. His little eyes can cast a soure glance.

1720.  Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), VII. 186. He … from his sower Looks is commonly called Vinegar Jones.

1750.  Gray, Long Story, 106. Sour visages, enough to scare ye.

1807.  J. Barlow, Columb., I. 103. Dissembling friends … Now pass my cell with smiles of sour disdain.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, iii. 29. The sour looks with which the strangers were regarded.

1869.  Tozer, Highl. Turkey, II. 73. A woman with a sour countenance but rather handsome features.

  b.  Of words, discourse, opinions, etc.

a. 1557.  Mrs. M. Basset, trans. More’s Treat. Passion, M.’s Wks. 1384/1. With sweete and sower wordes to laboure … to make good men of badde.

1594.  J. Dickenson, Arisbas (1878), 28. To shield me … from the sowre censures of the ouer-curious Moralists of our age.

1614.  Raleigh, Hist. World, III. (1634), 81. Nicias and his companions had a sowre message to deliver at Sparta.

1663.  J. Spencer, Prodigies (1665), 17. That Historian, whom we shall easily perceive not more leavened in mind or writing with this kind of sowrer Superstition.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 54, ¶ 1. He said a sour Thing to Laura at Dinner the other Day; upon which she burst into Tears.

1761.  Hume, Hist. Eng., lx. (1806), IV. 513. The fanaticism which prevailed, being so full of sour and angry principles.

1851.  Helps, Comp. Solit., iii. 31. In delivering a sour discourse on the wickedness of the others.

1871.  Morley, Crit. Misc., Carlyle, 235. A system which has raised monstrous floods of sour cant round about us.

  c.  Of actions.

1659.  T. Pecke, trans. Owen’s Epigr., xiii. 4.

1697.  Dryden, Æneid, XII. 10. He makes a sour retreat, nor mends his pace.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., XI. 693. Touch’d at his sour retreat,… Through hell’s black bounds I had pursued his flight.

a. 1740.  Waterland, Serm., iii. (1742), I. 81. God … chuses rather an easy and chearful, than an austere and sower Obedience.

  d.  Wry; distorted.

1611.  Cotgr., Morgueur, a maker of strange mouthes, or soure faces.

1822.  Lamb, Elia, I. Dissert. on Roast Pig. Make what sour mouths he would for a pretence.

  7.  Of weather, etc.: Cold and wet; inclement.

1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 105. In a winters soure storme must nauye be launched?

1599.  B. 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.

1687.  A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 272. The same day [we] had sower gusts of Wind and Rain.

1722.  De Foe, Col. Jack, xi. We had a very sour and rough voyage for the first fortnight.

1773.  Fergusson, Poems (1789), II. 56. Simmer’s showery blinks and winter’s sour.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. I. vii. The Earth … weeps and blears itself, in sour rain, and worse.

1895.  ‘G. Setoun,’ Sunshine & Haar (1896), ii. 21. It was a ‘cauld sour day’ nothing but drizzle from morning to night.

  8.  Of animals: Heavy, coarse, gross.

1713.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5148/12. A strong, sower Horse of 6 l. Price.

1854.  Jrnl. 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.

1881.  Evans, Leicestersh. Words, Sour, as applied to animals, coarse and gross.

1886.  in Peacock, N. W. Linc. Gloss., s.v., Two … sour, fine-looking mares.

  III.  9. Comb. a. Parasynthetic, as sour-blooded, -breathed, -faced, -featured, -hearted, -looked, etc.

1862.  Thornbury, Turner, II. 136. Turner was no *sour-blooded recluse.

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, III. xiii. (1622), 276. Dametas … had fetched many a *sower-breathed sigh.

1653.  Walton, Angler, To Rdr. A v b. If thou be a severe, *sowr complexioned man.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 20. Barraine hate, *Sower-ey’d disdaine, and discord.

a. 1697.  Audrey, Lives (1813), 511. He had a most remarkable aspect,… long-faced, and *sour eielidded, a kind of pigge-eie.

1589.  Marprel. Epit. (1843), 28. A *sourfaced knaue.

1883.  J. Mackenzie, Day-dawn in Dark Places, 78. Not even Hendrik was sour-faced a day after.

1830.  Scott, Doom Devorgoil, II. ii. With *sour-featured Whigs the Grass-market was cramm’d.

1679.  Poor Robin’s Intelligence, in Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 61. *Sour headed, saddle hacked, goose rumped.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 88. The Mother Cow must wear a low’ring Look, Sour-headed, strongly-neck’d.

1673.  Lond. Gaz., No. 834/4. A *sowr lookt and plain Horse.

1727.  Bailey (vol. II.), Torvity, *sour Lookedness.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., xiii. 102. She is browyd lyke a brystyll, with a *sowre loten chere. Ibid., xxi. 123. He is sowre lottyn.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gentl., 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.

1746.  Francis, trans. Horace, Sat., I. vii. 44. The *sour-tongu’d Mungrel the Dispute renew’d.

1821.  Scott, Kenilw., iii. An aged *sour-visaged domestic.

  b.  With pres. pples., as sour-looking, -smelling.

1611.  Cotgr., Rechignard, a … soure-looking, or grimme fellow.

1799.  Campbell, Poems, The Harper, iii. When the sour-looking folk sent me heartless away.

1838.  T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 544. When copal is kept melted till a sour smelling aromatic odour has ceased to proceed from it.

1855.  [J. R. Leifchild], Cornwall, 21. A lean, sour-looking man.

  c.  With sbs., forming attributive combs.

1836–48.  B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Acharnians, II. ii. ’Tis really terrible for men to have such sour-grape tempers.

1881.  A. Jessopp, in Academy, No. 492. 271/2. People of the sour-zealot order sneered at him as a double knave.

1898.  Daily News, 24 March, 2/5. A private conviction of the sour grapes order.

  10.  Special collocations (frequently hyphened), as † sour bread, leavened bread; sour cake, an oat- or rye-cake made of fermented dough; † sour cheer, bitter feeling; sour cherry, the common cherry; sour gourd, (the fruit of) the Baobab, Adansonia digitata, or the related species A. gregorii; † sour greme, bitter grief or anger; sour gum (U.S.), kettle, plum (see quots.); † sour swig, sour liquor or drink (fig.); sour tree, = sour wood; 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.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6166. And neuer mar þat dai til ete Na *surbred ne nanoþer mete.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xiii. 59. Þai … makes þe sacrement of þe awter of soure bred as þe Grekes duse.

1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxi. § 2. There is no Jewish paschal solemnity nor abstinence from sour bread now required at our hands.

1793.  D. Ure, Hist. Rutherglen, 94. Another ancient custom, for the observance of which Rutherglen has long been famous, is the baking of *sour cakes.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, viii. They … look as if they’d never tasted nothing better than bacon-sword and sour-cake i’ their lives.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 9127. With remyng, & rauthe, & myche rife sorow, Sobbyng & *sourcher soght fro þere herttes.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 466/2. Sowre chere, acrimonia.

1884.  trans. De Candolle’s Orig. Cultivated Pl., 207. *Sour Cherry—Prunus cerasus.

1640.  Parkinson, Theat. Bot., 1632. The Ethiopian *sowre Gourde groweth in Mozambique … on a faire great tree.

1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 317. Sour Gourd, Ethiopian, Adansonia.

1857.  Henfrey, Bot., 247. The fruit of the Baobab, the Monkey-bread or Ethiopian Sour-gourd, has an agreeable acid pulp.

1887.  Bentley, Man. Bot., 481. A[dansonia] Gregorii.… A native of North Australia, where it is known as Sour-gourd and Cream-of-tartar tree.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 2053. Soche a sorow & a *sourgreme sanke in his hert. Ibid., 9042. For sorow & sorgrym of his sonnys dethe.

1814.  Pursh, Flora Amer. Sept., I. 177. Nyssa villosa.… This tree is known by the name of *Sour-gum.

1880.  Bessey, Botany, 519. The wood of Nyssa multiflora, the Sour Gum, Tupelo, or Peppridge tree of the Eastern United States.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 2250/1. *Sour-kettle. A vessel used in souring bleached cloth.

1874.  Treas. Bot., Suppl. 1324/2. Owenia venosa is known by the name of the *Sour Plum amongst the colonists.

1889.  Maiden, Usef. Plants, 49. Owenia acidula,… ‘Sour Plum,’ ‘Native Peach or Nectarine.’

1898.  Morris, Austral Eng., 427. Sour-Plum, the Emu-apple.

1548.  Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke vi. 74. Hauing been long accustomed to the olde *soureswyg of Moses lawe.

1717.  Petiveriana, III. 247. Sorrel or *Sowre-tree. Because its Leaves have that Taste.

1816.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 554. Water in which the bran has been allowed to become sour, and which is called sours, or *sour water.

1836–41.  Brande, Chem. (ed. 5), 1084. The starch suspended in a very foul acid liquor, called sour water.

1856.  A. Gray, Man. Bot., 254. Oxydendrum, Sorrel-tree. *Sour-wood.

1859.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 430. Sour wood (Andromeda arborea), a beautiful tree, which … is sometimes called Sorrel tree.

1880.  New Virgin., II. 171. There were quantities of the pretty, graceful sourwood—the Oxydendrum arboreum.

  B.  sb.¹ 1. That which is sour, in lit. or fig. senses. Used without article, or with the, a, etc.

  (a)  c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 56. Sele drincan middeldaʓum, & forga sur & sealtes ʓehwæt.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 5059. He is a wrecche … That loved such one, for swete or soure.

c. 1420.  26 Pol. Poems, xvii. 131. For oure swete, he drank ful soure.

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), i. 107. As waspis ressauis of þe same bot soure, So reprobatis Christis buke dois rebute.

1580.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 242. You haue bene a Trauailer and tasted nothing but sowre.

1612.  J. Davies (Heref.), Muse’s Sacrifice, Wks. (Grosart), II. 12/2. Mellefluous Sweetnesse … Sweeten my Sowre.

1657.  J. Trapp, Comm. Neh. i. 8. Sower and sweet maketh best sawce.

1881.  D. Thomson, Musings among Heather, 191. We likewise find Our sour gey aften mix’d wi’ sweet.

  (b)  a. 1300.  Cursor M., 23979. He dranc þe sure and i þe suete.

1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 12. Tuo tonnes fulle of love drinke,… of the soure or of the swete.

1448–9.  J. Metham, Wks. (E.E.T.S.), 52. I be myn one schal bothe the sqwete and the soure For yow endure.

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 4. Hym cunne I thanke, that bothe can and will, once mingle sweet emong the sower.

1584–7.  Greene, Carde of Fancie, Wks. (Grosart), IV. 110. By the sweete (quoth hee) how should we know the sower?

1656.  Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., I. lxix. (1674), 86. The Sower of obeying, and Sweet of commanding.

1684.  trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., VI. 177. Many People give their Patients … Conserves of the sowre of Citron.

1724.  Ramsay, 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.

1402[?].  in Yorks. Archæol. Jrnl., XX. 47. Thys did God dele, For swete, a sour.

1592.  Breton, C’tess Pembroke’s Love, Wks. (Grosart), I. 24/1. Sowing the sweete, that killeth euery sower.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 867. The sweets we wish for, turne to lothed sowrs.

1634.  Massinger, Very Woman, IV. ii. We have not an hour of life in which our pleasures relish not some pain, Our sours some sweetness.

1714.  Mandeville, Fab. Bees (1733), I. 107. Loaf sugar … prevents the injuries which a gnawing sower might do to the bowels.

1816.  L. Hunt, Rimini, III. 64. He kept no reckoning with his sweets and sours.

1900.  Weyman, Sophia, xv. The only sour in his cup, indeed, arose from his costume.

  2.  In bleaching and tanning, a bath or steep of an acid character.

1756.  F. Home, Exper. Bleaching, 28. Sours made with bran, or rye meal, and water, are often used instead of milk.

1778.  Phil. Trans., LXVIII. 125. The bleachers of linen make use of a sour prepared by diluting the strong spirit of vitriol.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 137. They are thence removed to the sours.

1860.  Tomlinson, Usef. Arts, Leather Manuf., 12. The skins are … immersed for twelve hours in a very weak solution of sulphuric acid, called sours.

1873.  E. Spon, 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.

1885.  Pall Mall Gaz., 10 Feb., 2/2. I prefer … ‘swapping stories’ to sipping ‘whisky sours.’ Ibid. (1889), 20 June, 3/2. Sours are made principally with whisky or brandy, or Santa Cruz rum.