sourdeline (sordelen)

[F. (?), dim. of sourdine.] A small variety of bagpipe, or mu made chiefly from vegetables or fish, originally intended to be eaten on fast-days, when flesh meat is not allowed. IMG:content-1600.png:[blocks in formation] "We had a very thick fog," said Tom, "directly after the thunder-storm a soupy fog." Jean Ingelow , Off the Skelligs, xiv. sour (sour), a. and n. [ sûr = MD. suur, D. zuur = MLG. sür = OHG. MHG. sür , G. sauer = Icel. sürr = Sw. Dan. sur (cf. F. sur , sour, sur us , salt. Root unknown.] I. a. 1. Having an acid taste; sharp to the taste; tart; acid; specifically, acid in consequence of fermentation; fermented, and thus spoiled: as, sour bread; sour milk. The mellow plum doth fall, the green sticks fast, Or, being early pluck'd, is sour to taste. Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 528. 2. Harsh of temper; crabbed; peevish; austere; morose: as, a man of a sour temper. One is so sour, so crabbed, and so unpleasant that he can away with no mirth or sport. Sir T. More, Utopia, Ded. to Peter Giles, p. 12. Lofty, and sour to them that lov'd him not; But to those men that sought him sweet as summer. Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 2. 53. 3t. Afflictive; hard to bear; bitter; disagreeable to the feelings; distasteful in any man ner. Al though it [poverty] be soure to suffre, there cometh swete after. Piers Plowman (B), xi. 250. I know this kind of writing is madne to the world, foolishne to reason, and sour to the flesh. J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 235. 4. Expre ing discontent, displeasure, or peevishne : as, a sour word. .. With matrimonie cometh the soure browbendyng of your wifes kinsfolkes. Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 18. I never heard him make a sour expre ion, but frankly confe that he left the world because he was not fit for it. Steele , Spectator, No. 2. the taste, as by fermentation: as, cider sours rapidly in the rays of the sun. His taste delicious, in digestion souring . Shak., Lucrece, 1. 699. IMG:content-1601.png:[blocks in formation] 2. To make harsh, crabbed, morose, or bitter in temper; make cro or discontented; embitter; prejudice. in This the theatre. protraction is able to sour the best-settled patience B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, Ind. My mind being soured with his other conduct, I continued to refuse. Franklin , Autobiog., p. 57. 3. To make harsh, wet, cold, or unkindly to crops: said of soil. IMG:content-1602.png:[blocks in formation] 4. In bleaching, etc., to treat with a dilute acid. -5. To macerate and render fit for plaster or mortar, as lime. - To sour one's cheekst, to a ume a morose or sour expre ion. And now Adonis, with a lazy spright,. Souring his cheeks , cries, "Fie, no more of love!" Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 185. sour (sour), adv. [ Thou shalt with this launce gay Abyen it ful soure . Chaucer , Sir Thopas, 1. 111. source (sors), n. [Early mod. E. also sourse ; source (ML. sursa ), rise, beginning, spring, source, sors , sours , fem. sorse , sourse , pp. of sordre , sourdre , F. sourdre = Pr. sorger , sorzir = Sp. surgir = Pg. sordir , surdir = It. sorgere, surgere , rise: see surge . Cf. sourd.] 1. Arising; a rise; a soaring. Therfore, right as an hauk up at a sours Upspring eth into the eir, right so prayeres Of charitable and chaste bisy freres Maken hir sours to Goddes eres two. Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 230. of soil. The term sour is, in Scotland, usually applied to a cold and wet soil, and conveys the idea of viscidity, which, in some cases, is a concomitant of fermentation. Ure, Hist. of Rut her glen, p. 180. (Jamie son.) 6. Coarse: said of gra . Hall i well . [Prov. Eng.]-Sour bath. See bath1 . - Sour dock, the common sorrel, Rumex Acetosa ; sometimes, R. Ace to sell a . [Prov. Eng.] Sowre dokke (her be..), idem quod sorel. Prompt . Parv ., p. 466. Sour dough, leaven; a fermented ma of dough left from a previous mixing, and used as a ferment to raise a fresh batch of dough. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.] IMG:content-1603.png:[blocks in formation] sourdet (sör'det), n. Same as sordet. sourdine (sör-dēn'), n. [ Sour-eyed disdain and discord. Shak ., Tempest, iv. 1. 20.