vinegar meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

vinegar

noun

UK /ˈvɪnəɡəː/ · US /ˈvɪnəɡɚ/

Etymology From Middle English vynegre, from Old French vinaigre from Old French vyn egre, based on Latin vīnum (“wine”) + Latin ācer (“sour”). Displaced Old English æċed (survived in Middle English eced).

A sour liquid formed by the fermentation of alcohol used as a condiment or preservative; a dilute solution of acetic acid.

In Persia, newly married couples were presented with sheep's trotters steeped in vinegar as a love enticement.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 220:

Any variety of vinegar.

a range of herb-flavoured vinegars

US, Informal Vigor; vitality.

You full of vinegar now, but you 'bout through / We gonna get a steam drill to do your share of driving / Then what's all them muscles gonna do? Huh, John Henry? / Gonna take a little bit of vinegar out of you.1962, “The Legend of John Henry's Hammer”, performed by Johnny Cash:
[Rahm Emanuel] was full of vinegar on his proposal of mandatory retirement at age 75 for the president and the rest of the executive branch, as well as Congress and the judiciary.2026 January 24, Linda Feldmann, “Rahm Emanuel for president? A Monitor event with Chicago’s former mayor.”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

Derived terms: 88 terms
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Related terms: vinagrous, vinaigrette, vinaigrous, vinegaroon, vinegarroon, non-brewed condiment

vinegar

verb

To season or otherwise treat with vinegar.

Accordingly, after a vast amount of moaning and crying up-stairs, and much damping of foreheads, and vinegaring of temples, and hartshorning of noses, and so forth […]1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 19.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:

Derived terms: vinegared, vinegaring