Search Result for "sour grapes":
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. disparagement of something that is unattainable;


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Grape \Grape\, n. [OF. grape, crape, bunch or cluster of grapes, F. grappe, akin to F. grappin grapnel, hook; fr. OHG. chrapfo hook, G. krapfen, akin to E. cramp. The sense seems to have come from the idea of clutching. Cf. Agraffe, Cramp, Grapnel, Grapple.] 1. (Bot.) A well-known edible berry growing in pendent clusters or bunches on the grapevine. The berries are smooth-skinned, have a juicy pulp, and are cultivated in great quantities for table use and for making wine and raisins. [1913 Webster] 2. (Bot.) The plant which bears this fruit; the grapevine. [1913 Webster] 3. (Man.) A mangy tumor on the leg of a horse. [1913 Webster] 4. (Mil.) Grapeshot. [1913 Webster] Grape borer. (Zool.) See Vine borer. Grape curculio (Zool.), a minute black weevil (Craponius in[ae]qualis) which in the larval state eats the interior of grapes. Grape flower, or Grape hyacinth (Bot.), a liliaceous plant (Muscari racemosum) with small blue globular flowers in a dense raceme. Grape fungus (Bot.), a fungus (Oidium Tuckeri) on grapevines; vine mildew. Grape hopper (Zool.), a small yellow and red hemipterous insect, often very injurious to the leaves of the grapevine. Grape moth (Zool.), a small moth (Eudemis botrana), which in the larval state eats the interior of grapes, and often binds them together with silk. Grape of a cannon, the cascabel or knob at the breech. Grape sugar. See Glucose. Grape worm (Zool.), the larva of the grape moth. Sour grapes, things which persons affect to despise because they can not possess them; -- in allusion to [AE]sop's fable of the fox and the grapes. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster] All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite. --Bacon. [1913 Webster] 2. Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or musty, turned. [1913 Webster] 3. Disagreeable; unpleasant; hence; cross; crabbed; peevish; morose; as, a man of a sour temper; a sour reply. "A sour countenance." --Swift. [1913 Webster] He was a scholar . . . Lofty and sour to them that loved him not, But to those men that sought him sweet as summer. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 4. Afflictive; painful. "Sour adversity." --Shak. [1913 Webster] 5. Cold and unproductive; as, sour land; a sour marsh. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] Syn: Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious; crabbed; currish; peevish. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

sour grapes n 1: disparagement of something that is unattainable
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

36 Moby Thesaurus words for "sour grapes": acid, acidulant, belittling, bread-and-butter pickle, chokecherry, comedown, contempt, crab apple, decrial, depreciation, derogation, detraction, dill pickle, disapproval, discrediting, disgrace, disparagement, faint praise, green apple, indignity, knocking, lemon, lime, lukewarm support, minimizing, pickle, putting down, slighting, sour, sour balls, sour cream, sour pickle, sourdough, verjuice, vinegar, yogurt