salty
[sawl-tee]
- tasting of or containing salt; saline.
- piquant; sharp; witty.
- racy or coarse: salty humor.
- of the sea, sailing, or life at sea.
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Origin of salty
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for salty
Contemporary Examples
But what about the screams, the salty puddles, and big empty packages of frozen fish lying on the ground outside the fence?
The wind blew dry, salty air from the former seabed far to the south and east.
By the late 1990s the sea level dropped by 16 meters, leaving fishing boats and ships resting on the sandy and salty bottom.
The buttery, nutty, and sweet and salty all work together to form a balance of flavors.
The chicken, fried in impeccably fresh peanut oil, is enveloped in a salty skin that peels away in bacon-rich strips.
Charlottesville Is Swimming in Finger Lickin’ Gas Station Fried ChickenJane & Michael Stern
May 26, 2014
Historical Examples
Every fluid of the body is salty, and every cell of the body is bathed in salt water.
The Meaning of EvolutionSamuel Christian Schmucker
The air was heavy, and the salty flavor of the flats might almost be tasted in it.
Cy Whittaker's PlaceJoseph C. Lincoln
This sea stirred not, while the air above it was frozen in salty silence.
MelomaniacsJames Huneker
A strong, salty fragrance, wet and sweet, floated on the breeze.
Tales of FishesZane Grey
The water that forms rain comes from the ocean, yet the rain is not salty.
Common ScienceCarleton W. Washburne
salty
- of, tasting of, or containing salt
- (esp of humour) sharp; piquant
- relating to life at sea
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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
Word Origin and History for salty
adj.
mid-15c., "tasting of salt, impregnated with salt," from salt (n.) + -y (2). Meaning "racy" is from 1866, from salt in the sense of "that which gives life or pungency" (1570s, originally of words or wit). Meaning "racy, sexy" is from 1866. U.S. slang sense of "angry, irritated" is first attested 1938 (probably from similar use with regard to sailors, "tough, aggressive," attested by 1920), especially in phrase jump salty "to unexpectedly become enraged." Related: Saltily.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper