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salt

Pronunciation: /sɔːlt, sɒlt/

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Definition of salt

noun

  • 1 (also common salt) [mass noun] a white crystalline substance which gives seawater its characteristic taste and is used for seasoning or preserving food: season with salt and pepper
    • Alternative name: sodium chloride; chemical formula: NaCl
  • literary something which adds freshness or piquancy:he described danger as the salt of pleasure
  • 2 Chemistry any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation.
  • 3 (usually old salt) informal an experienced sailor: he was one of many old salts who lined up to volunteer

adjective

[attributive]
  • 1impregnated with, treated with, or tasting of salt:salt water salt beef
  • 2(of a plant) growing on the coast or in salt marshes: the region is rich in salt plant communities and reed beds

verb

[with object]
  • 1 (usually as adjective salted) season or preserve with salt:cook the carrots in boiling salted water
  • make (something) piquant or more interesting:there was good talk to salt the occasion
  • 2sprinkle (a road or path) with salt in order to melt snow or ice: local authorities worked to improve travel conditions by gritting and salting roads
  • 3 informal fraudulently make (a mine) appear to be a paying one by placing rich ore into it: I shall want to see some evidence that there really is a seam—no salting it, no faking
  • 4 (as adjective salted) (of a horse) having developed a resistance to disease by surviving it.

Phrases

rub salt into the (or someone's) wound

make a painful experience even more painful for someone: Boro rubbed salt into the wound by scoring with their first attempt

the salt of the earth

a person or group of people of great kindness, reliability, or honesty: your old man was the salt of the earth
[with biblical allusion to Matt 5:13]

sit below the salt

be of lower social standing or worth: paperback publishers used to be considered people who sat below the salt
[from the former custom of placing a large salt cellar in the middle of a dining table with the host at one end]

take something with a pinch (or grain) of salt

regard something as exaggerated; believe only part of something:I take anything he says with a large pinch of salt

worth one's salt

good or competent at the job or profession specified:any astrologer worth her salt would have predicted this

put salt on the tail of

capture (with reference to jocular directions given to children for catching a bird).

Phrasal Verbs

salt something away

informal secretly store or put by something, especially money:they salted the money away in numbered bank accounts around the world

salt something out

cause soap to separate from lye by adding salt.
Chemistry cause an organic compound to separate from an aqueous solution by adding an electrolyte: the potassium carbonate salts out the otherwise water-soluble nitrile as a separate upper layer

Derivatives

saltish

adjective

saltless

adjective

saltness

noun

Origin:

Old English sealt (noun), sealtan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zout and German Salz (nouns), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin sal, Greek hals 'salt'

salt in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of salt in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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