Verjuice
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A very acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes. uncountable, usually
"In this inſtance, there is (vpon the by) to be noted the Percolation, or Suing of the Veriuyce thorow the VVood; So as it ſeemeth, it muſt be firſt in a kinde of Vapour, before it paſſe."
- 1 To render something sour; to embitter. transitive
"There are few names to which a jingle or a joke cannot be fitted—witness, Twining, banker and tea-dealer: / ‘Twining would be whining / Were’t not for his tea;’ / and the ex-Lord Mayor, Sir John Key, where the inherent rhyme to ‘donkey’ verjuiced the baronetcy."
Example
More examples"One day when the little robin slept on a vine until dawn, at daybreak, he found himself entangled and strangled by this vine. It then said to it: “You should never trust the verjuice vine, whether it is green or stunted.""
Etymology
From Middle English verjous, vergeous, from Old French vertjus, verjus (French verjus), from vert + jus. First attested in c. 1302.
Related phrases
More for "verjuice"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.