释义 |
soap I. \ˈsōp\ noun (-s) Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English sope, from Old English sāpe; akin to Middle Dutch sepe soap, Old High German seifa soap, Old English sāp amber, salve, Latin sebum tallow, grease, Tocharian A sepal salve 1. a. : a cleansing and emulsifying agent that is made usually either from fats and oils (as a mixture of tallow and coconut oil) by saponification with alkali in the boiling process or the cold process or from fatty acids by neutralization with alkali, that consists essentially of a mixture of water-soluble sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids, and that may contain other ingredients (as sodium carbonate or other builders, perfume, coloring agents, fluorescent dyes, disinfectants, or abrasive material) — sometimes distinguished from detergent; compare hard soap, resin soap, soft soap, surface-active agent, toilet soap b. : a water-soluble salt of a single fatty acid or similar acid c. : a usually water-insoluble metal salt other than an alkali-metal salt of a fatty acid or similar acid (as a resin acid or a naphthenic acid) that may be a nuisance (as the calcium and magnesium soaps formed as a curd when ordinary soap is used in hard water) or that may be useful as a paint drier and for other purposes : metallic soap 2. : soap as prepared especially for the trade < a full stock of soaps > • - no soap II. transitive verb (-ed/-ing/-s) 1. a. : to rub soap over or into especially so as to make a lather or coating < soap one's hands > < soaping clothes > < soaped crosses on windows and automobiles — Holiday > b. : to treat or scour (as cloth) with a soap solution 2. : to address in smooth or complimentary speech : flatter < as I soaped the dean I was sure of having one hearer in my favor — O.W.Holmes †1935 > — compare soft-soap III. noun 1. : soap opera 2. : the melodrama and sentimentality characteristic of a soap opera ; also : something (as a novel) having such qualities |