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Idioms about salt

Origin of salt

1
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”; see also halo-, salary, sauce

synonym study for salt

8. See sailor.

OTHER WORDS FROM salt

saltlike, adjective

Other definitions for salt (2 of 3)

salt2
[ sawlt ]
/ sɔlt /

adjective Obsolete.
lustful; lecherous.

Origin of salt

2
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 + saut “a jump,” from Latin saltus, equivalent to sal(īre) “to jump” + -tus suffix of verbal action; see also halter2, salacious

Other definitions for salt (3 of 3)

SALT
[ sawlt ]
/ sɔlt /

noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use salt in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for salt (1 of 2)

salt
/ (sɔːlt) /

noun
verb (tr)
adjective
not sour, sweet, or bitter; salty
obsolete rank or lascivious (esp in the phrase a salt wit)

Derived forms of salt

saltish, adjectivesaltless, adjectivesaltlike, adjectivesaltness, noun

Word Origin for salt

Old English sealt; related to Old Norse, Gothic salt, German Salz, Lettish sāls, Latin sāl, Greek hals

British Dictionary definitions for salt (2 of 2)

SALT
/ (sɔːlt) /

n acronym for
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks or Treaty
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

Scientific definitions for salt

salt
[ sôlt ]

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. See more at complex salt double salt simple salt.
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for salt

salt

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

notes for salt

Common table salt is sodium chloride.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Other Idioms and Phrases with salt

salt

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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