salt

¹ American  

[sawlt] / sɔlt /

noun

1. a crystalline compound, sodium chloride, NaCl, occurring as a mineral, a constituent of seawater, etc., and used for seasoning food, as a preservative, etc.

2. table salt mixed with a particular herb or seasoning for which it is named.

   garlic salt;

   celery salt.

3. Chemistry.  any of a class of compounds formed by the replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms of an acid with elements or groups, which are composed of anions and cations, and which usually ionize in solution; a product formed by the neutralization of an acid by a base.

4. salts, any of various salts used as purgatives, as Epsom salts.

5. an element that gives liveliness, piquancy, or pungency.

   Anecdotes are the salt of his narrative.

   Synonyms:

   zest , flavor

6. wit; pungency.

7. a small, usually open dish, as of silver or glass, used on the table for holding salt.

8. Informal.  a sailor, especially an old or experienced one.

   He's an old salt who'll be happy to tell you about his years at sea.

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verb (used with object)

1. to season with salt.

2. to cure, preserve, or treat with salt.

3. to furnish with salt.

   to salt cattle.

4. to treat with common salt or with any chemical salt.

5. to spread salt, especially rock salt, on so as to melt snow or ice.

   The highway department salted the roads after the storm.

6. to introduce rich ore or other valuable matter fraudulently into (a mine, the ground, a mineral sample, etc.) to create a false impression of value.

7. to add interest or excitement to.

   a novel salted with witty dialogue.

adjective

1. containing salt; having the taste of salt.

   salt water.

2. cured or preserved with salt.

   salt cod.

3. inundated by or growing in salt water.

   salt marsh.

4. producing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is not sweet, sour, or bitter.

5. pungent or sharp.

   salt speech.

verb phrase

1. salt out  to separate (a dissolved substance) from a solution by the addition of a salt, especially common salt.

2. salt away

   1. Also salt down to preserve by adding quantities of salt to, as meat.

   2. Informal.  to keep in reserve; store away; save.

      to salt away most of one's earnings.

idioms

1. with a grain / pinch of salt,  with reserve or allowance; with an attitude of skepticism.

   Diplomats took the reports of an impending crisis with a grain of salt.

2. worth one's salt,  deserving of one's wages or salary.

   We couldn't find an assistant worth her salt.

3. rub salt in / into someone's wounds,  to make someone's bad situation even worse.

salt ² American  

[sawlt] / sɔlt /

adjective

Obsolete.

1. lustful; lecherous.

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SALT ³ American  

[sawlt] / sɔlt /

noun

1. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.

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SALT ¹ British  

/ sɔːlt /

acronym

1. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks or Treaty

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salt ² British  

/ sɔːlt /

noun

1. 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. chem any of a class of usually crystalline solid compounds that are formed from, or can be 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

5. dry or laconic wit

6. a sailor, esp one who is old and experienced

7. short for saltcellar

8. to make someone's pain, shame, etc, even worse

9. a person or group of people regarded as the finest of their kind

10. with reservations; sceptically

11. efficient; worthy of one's pay

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verb

1. to season or preserve with salt

2. to scatter salt over (an icy road, path, etc) to melt the ice

3. to add zest to

4. to preserve or cure with salt or saline solution

5. chem to treat with common salt or other chemical salt

6. to provide (cattle, etc) with salt

7. to give a false appearance of value to, esp to introduce valuable ore fraudulently into (a mine, sample, etc)

adjective

1. not sour, sweet, or bitter; salty

2. obsolete  rank or lascivious (esp in the phrase a salt wit )

salt Scientific  

/ sôlt /

1. Any of a large class of chemical compounds formed when a positively charged ion (a cation) bonds with a negatively charged ion (an anion), as when a halogen bonds with a metal. Salts are water soluble; when dissolved, the ions are freed from each other, and the electrical conductivity of the water is increased.

2. See more at complex salt double salt simple salt

3. A colorless or white crystalline salt in which a sodium atom (the cation) is bonded to a chlorine atom (the anion). This salt is found naturally in all animal fluids, in seawater, and in underground deposits (when it is often called halite). It is used widely as a food seasoning and preservative. Also called common salt, sodium chloride, table salt. Chemical formula: NaCl.

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salt Cultural  

1. In chemistry, a compound resulting from the combination of an acid and a base, which neutralize each other.

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salt More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing salt

• back to the salt mines
• with a grain of salt

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Related Words

See sailor.

Discover More

Common table salt is sodium chloride.

Other Word Forms

• saltish adjective
• saltless adjective
• saltlike adjective
• saltness noun

Etymology

Origin of salt¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; noun and adjective salt, salte, zalt, Old English sealt; cognate with German Salz, Old Norse, Gothic salt, all from Germanic saltam; akin to Latin sal, Greek háls, Slavic ( Polish ) sol-, Celtic ( Irish ) salann ; Middle English verb salten, Old English saltan, sealtan; compare Old High German salzan, Old Norse salta, Dutch zouten; akin to Latin sallere “to sprinkle with salt”; halo- ( def. ), salary, sauce

Origin of salt¹

First recorded in 1515–25; by shortening and alteration of assaut, Middle English a sawt, from Middle French a saut “on the jump,” from a- a- ⁵ ( def. ) + saut “a jump,” from Latin saltus, equivalent to sal(īre) “to jump” + -tus suffix of verbal action; halter ² ( def. ), salacious

Example Sentences

In April 1930, Gandhi concluded his pivotal salt march, breaking the British monopoly on salt production - a charged symbol of colonial misrule.

From BBC

Any manager who is worth his salt will have the understanding and belief to back his own judgement.

From BBC

This grinding causes the materials to react at room temperature, breaking the carbon-fluorine bonds within Teflon and producing harmless carbon along with sodium fluoride, a stable salt widely used in fluoride toothpaste.

From Science Daily

Other ingredients include salt, monosodium glutamate, cornstarch and beta carotene for color.

From The Wall Street Journal

Serve these rolls alongside your favorite salted or flavored butters.

From Salon

Related Words

• flavoring
• spice