[chi1 bu4 dao4 pu2 tao5 shuo1 pu2 tao5 suan1, 喫不到葡萄說葡萄酸] sour grapes (set expr. based on Aesop); lit. to say grapes are sour when you can't eat them [Add to Longdo]
Result from Foreign Dictionaries (5 entries found)
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Sour \Sour\, v. t. [AS. s?rian to sour, to become sour.]
1. To cause to become sour; to cause to turn from sweet to
sour; as, exposure to the air sours many substances.
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So the sun's heat, with different powers,
Ripens the grape, the liquor sours. --Swift.
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2. To make cold and unproductive, as soil. --Mortimer.
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3. To make unhappy, uneasy, or less agreeable.
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To sour your happiness I must report,
The queen is dead. --Shak.
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4. To cause or permit to become harsh or unkindly. "Souring
his cheeks." --Shak.
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Pride had not sour'd nor wrath debased my heart.
--Harte.
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5. To macerate, and render fit for plaster or mortar; as, to
sour lime for business purposes.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Sour \Sour\, n.
A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
--Spenser.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Sour \Sour\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Soured}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Souring}.]
To become sour; to turn from sweet to sour; as, milk soon
sours in hot weather; a kind temper sometimes sours in
adversity.
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They keep out melancholy from the virtuous, and hinder
the hatred of vice from souring into severity.
--Addison.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
sour
adj 1: smelling of fermentation or staleness [syn: {sour},
{rancid}]
2: having a sharp biting taste [ant: {sweet}]
3: one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of
vinegar or lemons
4: in an unpalatable state; "sour milk" [syn: {off}, {sour},
{turned}]
5: inaccurate in pitch; "a false (or sour) note"; "her singing
was off key" [syn: {false}, {off-key}, {sour}]
6: showing a brooding ill humor; "a dark scowl"; "the
proverbially dour New England Puritan"; "a glum, hopeless
shrug"; "he sat in moody silence"; "a morose and unsociable
manner"; "a saturnine, almost misanthropic young genius"-
Bruce Bliven; "a sour temper"; "a sullen crowd" [syn: {dark},
{dour}, {glowering}, {glum}, {moody}, {morose}, {saturnine},
{sour}, {sullen}]
n 1: a cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin)
mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar
2: the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken
into the mouth [syn: {sour}, {sourness}, {tartness}]
3: the property of being acidic [syn: {sourness}, {sour},
{acidity}]
v 1: go sour or spoil; "The milk has soured"; "The wine worked";
"The cream has turned--we have to throw it out" [syn:
{sour}, {turn}, {ferment}, {work}]
2: make sour or more sour [syn: {sour}, {acidify}, {acidulate},
{acetify}] [ant: {dulcify}, {dulcorate}, {edulcorate},
{sweeten}]