sourness
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English sowrenesse, sournesse, from Old English sūrnes (“sourness”), equivalent to sour -ness.
Noun
[edit]sourness (countable and uncountable, plural sournesses)
- The condition or quality of being sour.
- 1603–1604 (date written), [George Chapman], Bussy D’Ambois: A Tragedie: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for William Aspley, published 1607, →OCLC, Act I, page 1:
- [O]ur Tympanouſe ſtatiſts / (In their affected grauitie of voice, / Sovverneſſe of countenance, maners crueltie, / Authoritie, vvealth, and all the ſpavvne of Fortune) / Thinke they beare all the kingdomes vvorth before them; […]
- 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XII, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 226:
- Mrs. Ferrars was a little, thin woman, upright, even to formality, in her figure, and serious, even to sourness, in her aspect.
Usage notes
[edit]Often used figuratively to refer to a person’s temperament.
Translations
[edit]condition or quality of being sour
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of a person’s temperament
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Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms suffixed with -ness
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Taste