sop

[ sop ]
See synonyms for sop on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a piece of solid food, as bread, for dipping in liquid food.

  2. anything thoroughly soaked.

  1. something given to pacify or quiet, or as a bribe: The political boss gave him some cash as a sop.

  2. a weak-willed or spineless person; milksop.

verb (used with object),sopped, sop·ping.
  1. to dip or soak in liquid food: to sop bread in gravy.

  2. to drench.

  1. to take up (liquid) by absorption (usually followed by up): He used bread to sop up the gravy.

verb (used without object),sopped, sop·ping.
  1. to be or become soaking wet.

  2. (of a liquid) to soak (usually followed by in).

Origin of sop

1
First recorded before 1000; (for the noun) Middle English; Old English sopp; cognate with Old Norse soppa; verb derivative of the noun; see sup3

Other words for sop

Other definitions for SOP (2 of 3)

SOP

abbreviation
  1. Standard Operating Procedure; Standing Operating Procedure.

Origin of SOP

2
First recorded in 1940–45

Other definitions for sop. (3 of 3)

sop.

abbreviation
  1. soprano.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sop in a sentence

  • An allusion to the fable in sop about the earthern and brazen pots being dashed together.

  • Yet my guilty anticipation endured, and as a sop to conscience I tried to make myself believe there was no danger.

    A Virginia Scout | Hugh Pendexter
  • I called the Bill timid, narrow, a mere sop to the jealousies of sects and little-minded people.

    The New Machiavelli | Herbert George Wells
  • Without a smile or a prayer, she arranged the sop for the babe, then sat down beside him to think.

    Tess of the Storm Country | Grace Miller White
  • She was preparing the warm sop for the child, and taking him from his mother's arm, she sat down in the rocking chair.

    Tess of the Storm Country | Grace Miller White

British Dictionary definitions for sop (1 of 3)

sop

/ (sɒp) /


noun
  1. (often plural) food soaked in a liquid before being eaten

  2. a concession, bribe, etc, given to placate or mollify: a sop to one's feelings

  1. informal a stupid or weak person

verbsops, sopping or sopped
  1. (tr) to dip or soak (food) in liquid

  2. (when intr, often foll by in) to soak or be soaked

Origin of sop

1
Old English sopp; related to Old Norse soppa soup, Old High German sopfa milk with bread; see sup ²

British Dictionary definitions for SOP (2 of 3)

SOP

abbreviation for
  1. standard operating procedure

British Dictionary definitions for sop. (3 of 3)

sop.

abbreviation for
  1. soprano

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012