salt water
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Also see: water
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Also see: water
salt SALT
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
salt /sɔːlt, sɒlt/
▶noun
- 1 (also common salt) sodium chloride, a white crystalline substance which gives seawater its characteristic taste and is used for seasoning or preserving food.
■ literary something which adds freshness or piquancy.
- 2 Chemistry any chemical compound formed by the reaction of an acid with a base, with the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation.
- 3 (usu. old salt) informal an experienced sailor.
- 1 impregnated with salt.
- 2 (of a plant) growing on the coast or in salt marshes.
- 1 (often as adj. salted) season or preserve with salt.
■ make piquant or more interesting.
- 2 sprinkle (a road or path) with salt in order to melt snow or ice.
- 3 (salt something away) informal secretly store or put by something, especially money.
- 4 informal fraudulently make (a mine) appear to be a paying one by placing rich ore into it.
- 5 (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.
- 6 (as adj. salted) (of a horse) having developed a resistance to disease by surviving it.
– phrases
rub salt into the wound make a painful experience even more painful.
the salt of the earth a person of great kindness, reliability, or honesty. [with biblical allusion to Matt 5:13.]
sit below the salt be of lower social standing. [from the former custom of placing a 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.
worth one's salt good or competent at one's job or allotted task.
rub salt into the wound make a painful experience even more painful.
the salt of the earth a person of great kindness, reliability, or honesty. [with biblical allusion to Matt 5:13.]
sit below the salt be of lower social standing. [from the former custom of placing a 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.
worth one's salt good or competent at one's job or allotted task.
– derivatives
saltish adjective,
saltless adjective,
saltness noun.
saltish adjective,
saltless adjective,
saltness noun.
– origin OE sealt (n.), sealtan (v.), of Gmc origin.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
SALT /sɔːlt, sɒlt/
▶abbreviation Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
'salt water' also found in these Oxford entries:
