'Sour grapes' definitions:

Definition of 'sour grapes'

(from WordNet)
noun
Disparagement of something that is unattainable

Definition of 'Sour grapes'

From: GCIDE
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or musty, turned. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Disagreeable; unpleasant; hence; cross; crabbed; peevish; morose; as, a man of a sour temper; a sour reply. "A sour countenance." --Swift. [1913 Webster]
  • He was a scholar . . . Lofty and sour to them that loved him not, But to those men that sought him sweet as summer. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. Afflictive; painful. "Sour adversity." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. Cold and unproductive; as, sour land; a sour marsh. [1913 Webster]
  • Sour dock (Bot.), sorrel.
  • Sour gourd (Bot.), the gourdlike fruit {Adansonia Gregorii}, and Adansonia 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. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: Acid; sharp; tart; acetous; acetose; harsh; acrimonious; crabbed; currish; peevish. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Sour grapes'

From: GCIDE
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. (Bot.) The plant which bears this fruit; the grapevine. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. (Man.) A mangy tumor on the leg of a horse. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. (Mil.) Grapeshot. [1913 Webster]
  • Grape borer. (Zool.) See Vine borer.
  • Grape curculio (Zool.), 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 (Zool.), a small yellow and red hemipterous insect, often very injurious to the leaves of the grapevine.
  • Grape moth (Zool.), 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 (Zool.), 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. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'sour grapes'

From: Moby Thesaurus