Green’s Dictionary of Slang

diarrhoea.

1997

Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: sour apple quickstep euph. Suffering from diarrhoea. As in: ‘Your wife is taking rather a long time in the powder room.’ ‘Yes, I’m afraid she’s dancing the sour apple quickstep this evening.’ See also Tijuana cha-cha.

see separate entries.

1. (Aus.) in attrib. use, puritanical.

1904

Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 16 Mar. 6/5: [T]he sour-belly push who persecute perspiring, paternal Ministers of the Crown with a dog-in-the-manger spirit of jealous hate.

2. see sow-belly n.

a severe thrashing.

1608

J. Withals Dictionarie in Eng. and Latine 308: They call it vulgarly the oyle of Baston, or a sower cudgell.

1. (orig. Can.) an experienced prospector in Alaska, the Yukon or the Northwest Territories [the use of sourdough (fermenting dough, esp. that left over from a previous baking, used as leaven) in the making of bread in mining camps. Allegedly, the need to keep this warm meant that, on cold nights, the miners would sleep with a lump].

1898		Klondike Nugget (Dawson, Yukon Terr.) 20 July 1/4: The usual strong expletives had been used expressive of their meeting and Mr. Chee Chaco was not looking for information from his old friend Mr. Sour Dough .
1904		E. Robins Magnetic North 154: You don’t get an old Sour-dough like Dillon to travel at forty degrees.
1912		J. London Smoke Bellew (1926) 118: Now, if they was real sour-doughs it’d be different. If there’s one thing a sour-dough can do it’s sure walk.
1929		L. Thomas Woodfill of the Regulars 70: We also fell in with some of the old-time sourdoughs, who told us tales of the big gold rush.
1931		B. Lubbock Bully Hayes 14: A pair of old sour-doughs like myself an’ John A.
1940		S.J. Simonsen Among the Sourdoughs 10: Something about his demeanor indicated that he was not a sourdough.
1951		R. Service ‘My Husky Team’ in Lyrics of a Low Brow 26: ‘You know that Sourdoughs jest cain’t lie / So here’s the dope,’ he said.
1962		(con. late 1931) E. Lucia Klondike Kate 242: The Alaskan-Yukon sourdoughs paid Kate the greatest tribute of her life.

2. see sour n.

see sour n.

see separate entry.