salt

[sɔ:lt, 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.

adjective

1》 impregnated with salt.

2》 (of a plant) growing on the coast or in salt marshes.

verb

1》 [often as adjective 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 adjective 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.

Derivatives

saltish adjective

saltless adjective

saltness noun

Origin

OE sealt (n.), sealtan (v.), of Gmc origin.