vinegar
[vin-i-ger]
- a sour liquid consisting of dilute and impure acetic acid, obtained by acetous fermentation from wine, cider, beer, ale, or the like: used as a condiment, preservative, etc.
- Pharmacology. a solution of a medicinal substance in dilute acetic acid, or vinegar.
- sour or irritable speech, manner, or countenance: a note of vinegar in his voice.
- Informal. vigor; high spirits; vim.
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Origin of vinegar
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
vinegarmarinadesalinebluedrinkdeepoceanalkalipreservativechemicalsaltalcoholformaldehydesaltpetervigorstrengthforcezealenergypepExamples from the Web for vinegar
Contemporary Examples
Caligula drank “pearls of great price dissolved in vinegar.”
After a year, they would be washed with vinegar, dressed, and displayed.
Women would first bathe their feet in a mixture of vinegar and natural vegetation.
But the best way to serve cabbage is to chop it and season it with vinegar and salt.
Add the vinegar, bring to a simmer, then stir in the chicken stock.
Historical Examples
Heat the vinegar, and to it add the salt, sugar, and spices.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Season with salt, pepper, and the juice of the lemon or the vinegar.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Measure the vinegar and oil and add them to the dry ingredients.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
There he lay like a log, and all my efforts with vinegar and water had no visible effect.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
When you take the chitterlings on your plate season them with pepper and vinegar.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesEliza Leslie
vinegar
- a sour-tasting liquid consisting of impure dilute acetic acid, made by oxidation of the ethyl alcohol in beer, wine, or cider. It is used as a condiment or preservative
- sourness or peevishness of temper, countenance, speech, etc
- pharmacol a medicinal solution in dilute acetic acid
- US and Canadian informal vitality
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- (tr) to apply vinegar to
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French vinaigre, from vin wine + aigre sour, from Latin acer sharp
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for vinegar
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
vinegar
(vĭn′ĭ-gər)- An impure dilute solution of acetic acid obtained by fermentation beyond the alcohol stage and used as a preservative.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.