a. [f. as prec.] Resembling vinegar; sour like vinegar. Chiefly fig.
1730. Bailey (fol.), Acetous, Vinegary, or being something like Vinegar.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxxi. A vinegary face has Mrs. Miff.
1850. Kingsley, A. Locke (1876), II. 33. So you’ll just leave alone that vinegary, soul-destroying trash.
1870. Friswell, Mod. Men Lett., viii. 143. Commonplace bishops and vinegary bishops’ wives.
1879. Miss Braddon, Vixen, iii. ‘This is one of Miss Skipwith’s servants,’ thought Vixen; ‘rather a vinegary personage. I hope the other maids are nicer.’
Comb. 1885. Advance (Chicago), 6 Aug., 509/3. A vinegary visaged lady.
1891. C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 116. The only person who was in the house was a vinegary-looking woman, who told me that I could not stay.
