GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Vinegar , n. [OE. vinegre, F. vinaigre; vin wine (L. vinum) + aigre sour. See Wine, and Eager, a.]
   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.
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   ☞ The characteristic sourness of vinegar is due to acetic acid, of which it contains from three to five per cent. Wine vinegar contains also tartaric acid, citric acid, etc.
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   Hence, anything sour; -- used also metaphorically.
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   Here's the challenge: . . . I warrant there's vinegar and pepper in't.
   Shak.
   
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   Aromatic vinegar, strong acetic acid highly flavored with aromatic substances. -- Mother of vinegar. See 4th Mother. -- Radical vinegar, acetic acid. -- Thieves' vinegar. See under Thief. -- Vinegar eel (Zool.), 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. -- Vinegar lamp (Chem.), a fanciful name of an apparatus designed to oxidize alcohol to acetic acid by means of platinum. -- Vinegar plant. See 4th Mother. -- Vinegar tree (Bot.), the stag-horn sumac (Rhus typhina), whose acid berries have been used to intensify the sourness of vinegar. -- Wood vinegar. See under Wood.
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2.       
   Vinegar, v. t. To convert into vinegar; to make like vinegar; to render sour or sharp. [Obs.]
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   Hoping that he hath vinegared his senses
   As he was bid.
   B. Jonson.
   
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