Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sour liquid containing acetic acid, produced by fermenting a solution (such as wine or fermented rice) containing ethanol produced by a previous fermentation, used as a condiment and preservative.
  • noun Sourness of speech or mood; ill temper.
  • noun Liveliness and enthusiasm; vim.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Dilute and impure acetic acid, obtained by the acetous fermentation.
  • noun Anything really or metaphorically sour; sourness of temper. Also used attributively to signify sour or crabbed.
  • noun In pharmacy, a solution of a medicinal substance in acetic acid, or vinegar; acetum.
  • To make into vinegar, or make sour like vinegar.
  • To apply vinegar to; pour vinegar over; also, to mix with vinegar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To convert into vinegar; to make like vinegar; to render sour or sharp.
  • noun A sour liquid used as a condiment, or as a preservative, and obtained by the spontaneous (acetous) fermentation, or by the artificial oxidation, of wine, cider, beer, or the like.
  • noun Hence, anything sour; -- used also metaphorically.
  • noun strong acetic acid highly flavored with aromatic substances.
  • noun See 4th Mother.
  • noun acetic acid.
  • noun See under Thief.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a minute nematode worm (Leptodera oxophila, or Anguillula acetiglutinis), commonly found in great numbers in vinegar, sour paste, and other fermenting vegetable substances; -- called also vinegar worm.
  • noun (Chem.) a fanciful name of an apparatus designed to oxidize alcohol to acetic acid by means of platinum.
  • noun See 4th Mother.
  • noun (Bot.) the stag-horn sumac (Rhus typhina), whose acid berries have been used to intensify the sourness of vinegar.
  • noun See under Wood.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable A sour liquid formed by the fermentation of alcohol used as a condiment or preservative; a dilute solution of acetic acid.
  • noun countable Any variety of vinegar.
  • verb transitive To season with vinegar.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun dilute acetic acid
  • noun sour-tasting liquid produced usually by oxidation of the alcohol in wine or cider and used as a condiment or food preservative

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English vinegre, from Old French vinaigre : vin, wine (from Latin vīnum) + aigre, sour (from Vulgar Latin *acrus, from Latin ācer; see ak- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Via Middle English and Old French; compare French vinaigre.

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Examples

Comments

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  • pith and...

    September 16, 2007

  • Yeth. Prethithely.

    September 16, 2007

  • Captured at Yorktown, "5 casks vinegar, 300 gallons."

    That's a lot of pith.

    October 29, 2007

  • Pearls melt in vinegar.

    May 7, 2008

  • And more quickly than do pigs, eh, whichbe? But only should they be cast first.

    May 8, 2008

  • good one!

    May 8, 2008