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Definition of 'vinegar'

noun

Sour-tasting liquid produced usually by oxidation of the alcohol in wine or cider and used as a condiment or food preservative [syn: vinegar, acetum]

noun

Dilute acetic acid

From: GCIDE

Vinegar \Vin"e*gar\, v. t. To convert into vinegar; to make like vinegar; to render sour or sharp. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Hoping that he hath vinegared his senses As he was bid. --B. Jonson. [1913 Webster]

From: GCIDE

Vinegar \Vin"e*gar\, n. [OE. vinegre, F. vinaigre; vin wine (L. vinum) + aigre sour. See Wine, and Eager, a.]
1. 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. [1913 Webster]
Note: 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. [1913 Webster]
2. Hence, anything sour; -- used also metaphorically. [1913 Webster]
Here's the challenge: . . . I warrant there's vinegar and pepper in't. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]

Vinegar Heb. hometz, Gr. oxos, Fr. vin aigre; i.e., "sour wine." The Hebrew word is rendered vinegar in Ps. 69:21, a prophecy fulfilled in the history of the crucifixion (Matt. 27:34). This was the common sour wine (posea) daily made use of by the Roman soldiers. They gave it to Christ, not in derision, but from compassion, to assuage his thirst. Prov. 10:26 shows that there was also a stronger vinegar, which was not fit for drinking. The comparison, "vinegar upon nitre," probably means "vinegar upon soda" (as in the marg. of the R.V.), which then effervesces.