salt

[ sawlt ]

/ sɔlt /

|||

noun

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

table salt mixed with a particular herb or seasoning for which it is named: garlic salt; celery salt.

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.

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

an element that gives liveliness, piquancy, or pungency: Anecdotes are the salt of his narrative.

wit; pungency.

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

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.

verb (used with object)

to season with salt.

to cure, preserve, or treat with salt.

to furnish with salt: to salt cattle.

to treat with common salt or with any chemical salt.

to spread salt, especially rock salt, on so as to melt snow or ice: The highway department salted the roads after the storm.

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.

to add interest or excitement to: a novel salted with witty dialogue.

adjective

containing salt; having the taste of salt: salt water.

cured or preserved with salt: salt cod.

inundated by or growing in salt water: salt marsh.

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

pungent or sharp: salt speech.

Verb Phrases

salt away,

Also salt down. to preserve by adding quantities of salt to, as meat.
Informal. to keep in reserve; store away; save: to salt away most of one's earnings.

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

Nearby words

salpingotomy, salpinx, salsa, salsa verde, salsify, salt, salt away, salt bath, salt cake, salt cedar, salt chuck

Idioms

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

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.

worth one's salt, deserving of one's wages or salary: We couldn't find an assistant worth her salt.

Origin of salt

before 900; (noun and adj.) Middle English; Old English sealt; cognate with German Salz, Old Norse, Gothic salt; akin to Latin sāl, Greek háls (see halo-); (v.) Middle English salten, Old English s(e)altan; compare Old High German salzan, Old Norse salta, Dutch zouten; see salary

SYNONYMS FOR salt

5 flavor, savor.

8 See sailor.

Related forms

salt·like, adjective

Definition for salts (2 of 2)

SALT

[ sawlt ]

/ sɔlt /

noun

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for salts

One easy way to build them back up is to take a bath with Epsom salts, which contain sulfur.
5 Healthier Ways to Detox (That Aren’t Juice Cleanses)|DailyBurn|February 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Mme. Curie examined at the same time the salts of uranium and a number of uranium ores.
An Introduction to the History of Science|Walter Libby
The author has formed a number of salts from coniine thus prepared, and finds them all crystallizable and unaffected by light.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 315, January 14, 1882|Various
While these acids are of little interest, some of their salts, especially the permanganates, are important compounds.
An Elementary Study of Chemistry|William McPherson

Towards the Salts, they are not generally so fat and good Meat, as on the Hills.
A New Voyage to Carolina|John Lawson
These manuvres are intended to render them pliable, to separate the fibres, which permits the salts to penetrate more easily.
History of Embalming|J. N. Gannal

British Dictionary definitions for salts (1 of 3)

salts

/ (sɔːlts) /

pl n

med any of various mineral salts, such as magnesium sulphate or sodium sulphate, for use as a cathartic

short for smelling salts

like a dose of salts informal very fast

British Dictionary definitions for salts (2 of 3)

SALT

/ (sɔːlt) /

n acronym for

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks or Treaty

British Dictionary definitions for salts (3 of 3)

salt

/ (sɔːlt) /

noun

a white powder or colourless crystalline solid, consisting mainly of sodium chloride and used for seasoning and preserving food

(modifier) preserved in, flooded with, containing, or growing in salt or salty watersalt pork; salt marshes

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

liveliness or pungencyhis wit added salt to the discussion

dry or laconic wit

a sailor, esp one who is old and experienced

short for saltcellar

rub salt into someone's wounds to make someone's pain, shame, etc, even worse

salt of the earth a person or group of people regarded as the finest of their kind

with a grain of salt or with a pinch of salt with reservations; sceptically

worth one's salt efficient; worthy of one's pay

verb (tr)

to season or preserve with salt

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

to add zest to

(often foll by down or away) to preserve or cure with salt or saline solution

chem to treat with common salt or other chemical salt

to provide (cattle, etc) with salt

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

adjective

not sour, sweet, or bitter; salty

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

Derived Forms

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

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

Medicine definitions for salts

salt

[ sôlt ]

n.

A colorless or white crystalline solid, chiefly sodium chloride, used extensively as a food seasoning and preservative.

A chemical compound replacing all or part of the hydrogen ions of an acid with metal ions or electropositive radicals.

salts Any of various mineral salts, such as magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate, or potassium sodium tartrate, used as laxatives or cathartics.

salts Smelling salts.

salts Epsom salts.

Science definitions for salts

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.

Culture definitions for salts

salt

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

Note

Common table salt is sodium chloride.

Idioms and Phrases with salts

salt

In addition to the idioms beginning with salt

salt away
salt of the earth, the

also see:

back to the salt mines
with a grain of salt