酸葡萄

[ noun ]
disparagement of something that is unattainable
<noun.communication>

Grape \Grape\, n. [OF. grape, crape, bunch or cluster of grapes,
F. grappe, akin to F. grappin grapnel, hook; fr. OHG. chrapfo
hook, G. krapfen, akin to E. cramp. The sense seems to have
come from the idea of clutching. Cf. {Agraffe}, {Cramp},
{Grapnel}, {Grapple}.]
1. (Bot.) A well-known edible berry growing in pendent
clusters or bunches on the grapevine. The berries are
smooth-skinned, have a juicy pulp, and are cultivated in
great quantities for table use and for making wine and
raisins.

2. (Bot.) The plant which bears this fruit; the grapevine.

3. (Man.) A mangy tumor on the leg of a horse.

4. (Mil.) Grapeshot.

{Grape borer}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Vine borer}.

{Grape curculio} (Zo["o]l.), a minute black weevil
({Craponius in[ae]qualis}) which in the larval state eats
the interior of grapes.

{Grape flower}, or

{Grape hyacinth} (Bot.), a liliaceous plant ({Muscari
racemosum}) with small blue globular flowers in a dense
raceme.

{Grape fungus} (Bot.), a fungus ({Oidium Tuckeri}) on
grapevines; vine mildew.

{Grape hopper} (Zo["o]l.), a small yellow and red hemipterous
insect, often very injurious to the leaves of the
grapevine.

{Grape moth} (Zo["o]l.), a small moth ({Eudemis botrana}),
which in the larval state eats the interior of grapes, and
often binds them together with silk.

{Grape of a cannon}, the cascabel or knob at the breech.

{Grape sugar}. See {Glucose}.

{Grape worm} (Zo["o]l.), the larva of the grape moth.

{Sour grapes}, things which persons affect to despise because
they can not possess them; -- in allusion to [AE]sop's
fable of the fox and the grapes.


Sour \Sour\, a. [Compar. {Sourer}; superl. {Sourest}.] [OE.
sour, sur, AS. s?r; akin to D. zuur, G. sauer, OHG. s?r,
Icel. s?rr, Sw. sur, Dan. suur, Lith. suras salt, Russ.
surovui harsh, rough. Cf. {Sorrel}, the plant.]
1. Having an acid or sharp, biting taste, like vinegar, and
the juices of most unripe fruits; acid; tart.

All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.
--Bacon.

2. Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or
musty, turned.

3. Disagreeable; unpleasant; hence; cross; crabbed; peevish;
morose; as, a man of a sour temper; a sour reply. ``A sour
countenance.'' --Swift.

He was a scholar . . .
Lofty and sour to them that loved him not,
But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
--Shak.

4. Afflictive; painful. ``Sour adversity.'' --Shak.

5. Cold and unproductive; as, sour land; a sour marsh.

{Sour dock} (Bot.), sorrel.

{Sour gourd} (Bot.), the gourdlike fruit {Adansonia
Gregorii}, and {A. digitata}; also, either of the trees
bearing this fruit. See {Adansonia}.

{Sour grapes}. See under {Grape}.

{Sour gum} (Bot.) See {Turelo}.

{Sour plum} (Bot.), the edible acid fruit of an Australian
tree ({Owenia venosa}); also, the tree itself, which
furnished a hard reddish wood used by wheelwrights.

Syn: Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious;
crabbed; currish; peevish.