verjuice

[ vur-joos ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

an acid liquor made from the sour juice of crab apples, unripe grapes, etc., formerly much used for culinary and other purposes.
sourness, as of temper or expression.

verjuice

/ ˈvɜːˌdʒuːs /

1. the acid juice of unripe grapes, apples, or crab apples, formerly much used in making sauces, etc
2. ( as modifier )
  verjuice sauce
rare.
1. sourness or sharpness of temper, looks, etc
2. ( as modifier )
  a verjuice old wife

1275–1325; Middle English verjuis < Middle French vertjus, equivalent to vert green (< Latin viridis ) + jus juice

C14: from Old French vert jus green (unripe) juice, from Old French vert green (from Latin viridis ) + jus juice (from Latin jūs )

It is the apt accompaniment of a whining tongue, the fit complement of a verjuice countenance.

That spruce, affected little popinjay over there, who looks as if he had been drinking verjuice.

Bishop Swinfield's vineyard at Ledbury yielded seven pipes of white wine and nearly one of verjuice in the autumn of 1289.

The word occurs often in a sense in which acetum is the best representative, associated with verjuice and vinegar.

On the same man, as in a vineyard, grow far different grapes—on the sunny south nectar, and on the bleak north verjuice.

April 25, 2024firkin

[fur-kin ]

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