noun1. a white powder or colourless crystalline solid, consisting mainly of sodium chloride and used for seasoning and preserving food
2. (modifier) preserved in, flooded with, containing, or growing in salt or salty water
salt pork
salt marshes
3. chemistry any of a class of usually crystalline solid compounds that are formed from, or canbe regarded as formed from, an acid and a base by replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms in the acid molecules by positive ions from the base
4. liveliness or pungency
his wit added salt to the discussion
6. a sailor, esp one who is old and experienced
7. short for saltcellar
8. rub salt into someone's wounds
9. salt of the earth
10. with a grain of salt
11. worth one's salt
verb (transitive)12. to season or preserve with salt
13. to scatter salt over (an icy road, path, etc) to melt the ice
15. (often foll by down or away) to preserve or cure with salt or saline solution
16. chemistry to treat with common salt or other chemical salt
17. to provide (cattle, etc) with salt
18. to give a false appearance of value to, esp to introduce valuable ore fraudulently into (a mine, sample, etc)
adjective19. not sour, sweet, or bitter; salty
20. obsolete rank or lascivious (esp in the phrase a salt wit)
Word origin
Old English
sealt; related to Old Norse, Gothic
salt, German
Salz, Lettish
sāls, Latin
sāl, Greek
hals