soak
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: ṣoak
Etymology
From Middle English soken, from Old English socian (“to soak, steep”, literally “to cause to suck (up)”), from Proto-Germanic *sukōną (“to soak”), causative of Proto-Germanic *sūkaną (“to suck”). Cognate with Middle Dutch soken (“to cause to suck”). More at suck.
Pronunciation
Verb
soak (third-person singular simple present soaks, present participle soaking, simple past and past participle soaked)
- (intransitive) To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it.
- I'm going to soak in the bath for a couple of hours.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 24:7:
- Their land shall be soaked with blood.
- (transitive) To immerse in liquid to the point of saturation or thorough permeation.
- Soak the beans overnight before cooking.
- (intransitive) To penetrate or permeate by saturation.
- The water soaked into my shoes and gave me wet feet.
- 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
- The rivulet beneath […] soaked its way obscurely through wreaths of snow.
- (transitive) To allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed; to take in, receive. (usually + up)
- A sponge soaks up water; the skin soaks in moisture.
- I soaked up all the knowledge I could at university.
- 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:
- The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.
- (slang, figurative, transitive) To overcharge or swindle out of a large amount of money.
- Synonym: fleece
- 1928, Upton Sinclair, Boston:
- It's a blackmail ring, and the district attorneys get a share of the loot. […] Well, they got him in the same kind of jam, and soaked him to the tune of three hundred and eighty-six thousand.
- 2015, P. J. O'Rourke, Thrown Under the Omnibus: A Reader:
- Sure, if we own an aerospace contracting company, a five-thousand-acre sugar-beet farm, or a savings and loan with the president's son on the board of directors, we can soak Uncle Sucker for millions.
- (slang, dated) To drink intemperately or gluttonously.
- (metallurgy, transitive) To heat (a metal) before shaping it.
- (ceramics, transitive) To hold a kiln at a particular temperature for a given period of time.
- We should soak the kiln at cone 9 for half an hour.
- (figurative, transitive) To absorb; to drain.
- 1624, Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture, […], London: […] Iohn Bill, →OCLC:
- That they will want a certaine sucking and soaking
- (slang, chiefly Mormonism) To engage in penetrative sex without hip thrusting.[1]
Derived terms
Translations
to be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it
|
to immerse in liquid to the point of saturation or thorough permeation
|
to penetrate or permeate by saturation
to allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
soak (third-person singular simple present soaks, present participle soaking, simple past and past participle soaked)
- (transitive) (slang, boxing) To hit or strike.
- 1926, [P.G. Wodehouse], The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy:
- Wasn't Mr. Sipperley pretty shirty when he came to and found that you had been soaking him with putters?
Noun
soak (plural soaks)
- An immersion in water etc.
- 2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in The Guardian:
- wildlife tourism has turned Knepp into a successful business that employs more people than it did when it was a farm. Springtime overnighters snuggling down in a luxury treehouse after a soak in the open-air, wood-fired Swedish Hikki bathtub may hear nightingales serenading their consorts
- After the strenuous climb, I had a nice long soak in a bath.
- (slang, British) A drunkard.
- (slang) A carouse; a drinking session.
- (Australia) A low-lying depression that fills with water after rain.
- 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber & Faber, published 2003, page 38:
- I set off early to walk along the Melbourne Road where, one of the punters had told me, there was a soak with plenty of frogs in it.
- 1996, Doris Pinkington, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 170:
- Molly and Daisy finished their breakfast and decided to take all their dirty clothes and wash them in the soak further down the river.
Synonyms
- (drunkard): alcoholic, souse, suck-pint; See also Thesaurus:drunkard
Derived terms
Translations
References
Anagrams
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