vinegary
adjEtymology From vinegar + -y.
1
Sour; like vinegar.
- When Martha reopened the bottle of wine from the previous week's party, a vinegary whiff indicated that drinking it was out of the question.
- Cherry Jones as Nan Pierce (2023), 42:42 from the start, in Succession, season 4, episode 1: “I like my wine thin and vinegary.”
2
Figuratively Acerbic, bitter, irritable.
- Then she remembered Jalil's disgusting behaviour of the previous evening and turned to give him vinegary words.1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 562:
- Edward's maiden aunt was a vinegary old soul with a sharp tongue and quick temper; she would not be receiving a wedding invitation.
1 more example
- A vinegary face has Mrs Miff, and a mortified bonnet, and eke a thirsty soul for sixpences and shillings.1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
3
Of a liquid, having turned partially or fully to vinegar.
- Derived terms
- vinegariness