[syn: sour gourd, monkey bread]
3. acid-tasting Australian gourd-like fruit with a woody rind and large seeds;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sour \Sour\, a. [Compar. Sourer; superl. Sourest.] [OE.
sour, sur, AS. s?r; akin to D. zuur, G. sauer, OHG. s?r,
Icel. s?rr, Sw. sur, Dan. suur, Lith. suras salt, Russ.
surovui harsh, rough. Cf. Sorrel, the plant.]
1. Having an acid or sharp, biting taste, like vinegar, and
the juices of most unripe fruits; acid; tart.
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All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.
--Bacon.
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2. Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or
musty, turned.
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3. Disagreeable; unpleasant; hence; cross; crabbed; peevish;
morose; as, a man of a sour temper; a sour reply. "A sour
countenance." --Swift.
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He was a scholar . . .
Lofty and sour to them that loved him not,
But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
--Shak.
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4. Afflictive; painful. "Sour adversity." --Shak.
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5. Cold and unproductive; as, sour land; a sour marsh.
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Sour dock (Bot.), sorrel.
Sour gourd (Bot.), the gourdlike fruit Adansonia
Gregorii, and Adansonia digitata; also, either of the
trees bearing this fruit. See Adansonia.
Sour grapes. See under Grape.
Sour gum (Bot.) See Turelo.
Sour plum (Bot.), the edible acid fruit of an Australian
tree (Owenia venosa); also, the tree itself, which
furnished a hard reddish wood used by wheelwrights.
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Syn: Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious;
crabbed; currish; peevish.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
sour gourd
n 1: Australian tree having an agreeably acid fruit that
resembles a gourd [syn: cream-of-tartar tree, sour
gourd, Adansonia gregorii]
2: African gourd-like fruit with edible pulp [syn: sour gourd,
monkey bread]
3: acid-tasting Australian gourd-like fruit with a woody rind
and large seeds