vinegar
    n 1: 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]
    2: dilute acetic acid

Vinegar \Vin"e*gar\, v. t.
   To convert into vinegar; to make like vinegar; to render sour
   or sharp. [Obs.]
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         Hoping that he hath vinegared his senses
         As he was bid.                           --B. Jonson.
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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.
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   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.
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   2. Hence, anything sour; -- used also metaphorically.
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            Here's the challenge: . . . I warrant there's
            vinegar and pepper in't.              --Shak.
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   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.
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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.