FromMiddle Englishsowrenesse,sournesse, fromOld Englishsūrnes(“sourness”), equivalent tosour +-ness.
sourness (countable anduncountable,pluralsournesses)
- Thecondition orquality of beingsour.
1603–1604 (date written), [George Chapman],Bussy D’Ambois: A Tragedie: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] forWilliam Aspley, published1607,→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, inSense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published byT[homas] Egerton, […],→OCLC,page226:Mrs. Ferrars was a little, thin woman, upright, even to formality, in her figure, and serious, even tosourness, in her aspect.
Often used figuratively to refer to a person’s temperament.
condition or quality of being sour
of a person’s temperament
