| soak | 1. To cause or suffer to lie in a fluid till the substance has imbibed what it can contain; to macerate in water or other liquid; to steep, as for the purpose of softening or freshening; as, to soak cloth; to soak bread; to soak salt meat, salt fish, or the like. 2. To drench; to wet thoroughly. "Their land shall be soaked with blood." (Isa. Xxiv. 7) 3. To draw in by the pores, or through small passages; as, a sponge soaks up water; the skin soaks in moisture. 4. To make (its way) by entering pores or interstices; often with through. "The rivulet beneath soaked its way obscurely through wreaths of snow." (Sir W. Scott) 5. To absorb; to drain. Origin: OE. Soken, AS. Socian to sioak, steep, fr. Scan, sgan, to suck. See Suck. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| soap | A substance which dissolves in water, thus forming a lather, and is used as a cleansing agent. Soap is produced by combining fats or oils with alkalies or alkaline earths, usually by boiling, and consists of salts of sodium, potassium, etc, with the fatty acids (oleic, stearic, palmitic, etc). See the Note below, and cf. Saponification. By extension, any compound of similar composition or properties, whether used as a cleaning agent or not. In general, soaps are of two classes, hard and soft. Calcium, magnesium, lead, etc, form soaps, but they are insoluble and useless. "The purifying action of soap depends upon the fact that it is decomposed by a large quantity of water into free alkali and an insoluble acid salt. The first of these takes away the fatty dirt on washing, and the latter forms the soap lather which envelops the greasy matter and thus tends to remove it." (Roscoe & Schorlemmer) Castile soap, a fine-grained hard soap, white or mottled, made of olive oil and soda; called also Marseilles, or Venetian, soap. Hard soap, any one of a great variety of soaps, of different ingredients and colour, which are hard and compact. All solid soaps are of this class. Lead soap, an insoluble, white, pliable soap made by saponifying an oil (olive oil) with lead oxide; used externally in medicine. Called also lead plaster, diachylon, etc. Marine soap. See Marine. <alchemy> Pills of soap, pills containing soap and opium. Potash soap, any soap made with potash, especially. The soft soaps, and a hard soap made from potash and castor oil. Pumice soap, any hard soap charged with a gritty powder, as silica, alumina, powdered pumice, etc, which assists mechanically in the removal of dirt. Resin soap, a yellow soap containing resin, used in bleaching. Silicated soap, a cheap soap containing water glass (sodium silicate). <botany> See Quillaia bark. Soap bubble, a hollow iridescent globe, formed by blowing a film of soap suds from a pipe; figuratively, something attractive, but extremely unsubstantial. "This soap bubble of the metaphysicians." (J. C. Shairp) Soap cerate, a cerate formed of soap, olive oil, white wax, and the subacetate of lead, sometimes used as an application to allay inflammation. Soap fat, the refuse fat of kitchens, slaughter houses, etc, used in making soap. <alchemy> Soap liniment, a liniment containing soap, camphor, and alcohol. Soap nut, the hard kernel or seed of the fruit of the soapberry tree, used for making beads, buttons, etc. <botany> Soap plant, same as Soapberry tree. Soda soap, a soap containing a sodium salt. The soda soaps are all hard soaps. Soft soap, a soap of a gray or brownish yellow colour, and of a slimy, jellylike consistence, made from potash or the lye from wood ashes. It is strongly alkaline and often contains glycerin, and is used in scouring wood, in cleansing linen, in dyehouses, etc. Figuratively, flattery; wheedling; blarney. Toilet soap, hard soap for the toilet, usually coloured and perfumed. Origin: OE. Sope, AS. Sape; akin to D. Zeep, G. Seife, OHG. Seifa, Icel. Sapa, Sw. Spa, Dan. Sbe, and perhaps to AS. Sipan to drip, MHG. Sifen, and L. Sebum tallow. Cf. Saponaceous. (11 Mar 1998) |
| soapberry tree | <botany> Any tree of the genus Sapindus, especially. Sapindus saponaria, the fleshy part of whose fruit is used instead of soap in washing linen. Synonym: soap tree. (11 Mar 1998) |
| soapfish | <marine biology> Any serranoid fish of the genus Rhypticus; so called from the soapy feeling of its skin. (11 Mar 1998) |
| soaproot | <botany> A perennial herb (Gypsophila Struthium) the root of which is used in Spain as a substitute for soap. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| soaps | Sodium or potassium salts of long chain fatty acids. These detergent substances are obtained by boiling natural oils or fats with caustic alkali. Sodium soaps are harder and are used as topical anti-infectives and vehicles in pills and liniments; potassium soaps are soft, used as vehicles for ointments and also as topical antimicrobials. (12 Dec 1998) |
| soapstone | <chemical> A soft mineral of a soapy feel and a greenish, whitish, or grayish colour, usually occurring in foliated masses. It is hydrous silicate of magnesia. Steatite, or soapstone, is a compact granular variety. Indurated talc, an impure, slaty talc, with a nearly compact texture, and greater hardness than common talc. Synonym: talc slate. Origin: F. Talc; cf. Sp. & It. Talco, LL. Talcus; all fr. Ar. Talq. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| soapsuds enema | An enema of shredded or powdered soap in warm water. (05 Mar 2000) |
| soapwort | <botany> A common plant (Saponaria officinalis) of the Pink family; so called because its bruised leaves, when agitated in water, produce a lather like that from soap. Synonym: Bouncing Bet. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| soapy warm soaks | A mild dish soap in a lukewarm solution can be very effect in passive debridement of (removing dead tissue and debris) a wound. (27 Sep 1997) |
| Soave | F., 20th century Italian paediatric surgeon. See: Soave operation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Soave operation | Endorectal pull-through for treatment of congenital megacolon. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sob | 1. The act of sobbing; a convulsive sigh, or inspiration of the breath, as in sorrow. "Break, heart, or choke with sobs my hated breath." (Dryden) 2. Any sorrowful cry or sound. "The tremulous sob of the complaining owl." (Wordsworth) To sigh with a sudden heaving of the breast, or with a kind of convulsive motion; to sigh with tears, and with a convulsive drawing in of the breath. "Sobbing is the same thing [as sighing], stronger." (Bacon) "She sighed, she sobbed, and, furious with despair. She rent her garments, and she tore her hair." (Dryden) Origin: OE. Sobben; akin to AS. Seofian, siofian, to complain, bewail, seofung, siofung, sobbing, lamentation; cf. OHG. Sfton, sftn, to sigh, MHG. Siuften, siufzen, G. Seufzen, MHG. Sft a sigh, properly, a drawing in of breath, from sfen to drink, OHG. Sfan. Cf. Sup. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sober | 1. Temperate in the use of spirituous liquors; habitually temperate; as, a sober man. "That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of Thy holy name." (Bk. Of Com. Prayer) 2. Not intoxicated or excited by spirituous liquors; as, the sot may at times be sober. 3. Not mad or insane; not wild, visionary, or heated with passion; exercising cool, dispassionate reason; self-controlled; self-possessed. "There was not a sober person to be had; all was tempestuous and blustering." "No sober man would put himself into danger for the applause of escaping without breaking his neck." (Dryden) 4. Not proceeding from, or attended with, passion; calm; as, sober judgment; a man in his sober senses. 5. Serious or subdued in demeanor, habit, appearance, or colour; solemn; grave; sedate. "What parts gay France from sober Spain?" (Prior) "See her sober over a sampler, or gay over a jointed baby." (Pope) "Twilight gray Had in her sober livery all things clad." (Milton) Synonym: Grave, temperate, abstinent, abstemious, moderate, regular, steady, calm, quiet, cool, collected, dispassionate, unimpassioned, sedate, staid, serious, solemn, somber. See Grave. Origin: OE. Sobre, F. Sobre, from L. Sobrius, probably from a prefix so- expressing separation + ebrius drunken. Cf. Ebriety. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| soboles | <botany> A shoot running along under ground, forming new plants at short distances. A sucker, as of tree or shrub. Origin: L. Soboles = a short. (11 Mar 1998) |