sauce

[ saws ]

/ sɔs /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sauce ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any preparation, usually liquid or semiliquid, eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.

stewed fruit, often puréed and served as an accompaniment to meat, dessert, or other food: cranberry sauce.

something that adds piquance or zest.

Informal. impertinence; sauciness.

Slang. hard liquor (usually preceded by the): He's on the sauce again.

Archaic. garden vegetables eaten with meat.

verb (used with object), sauced, sauc·ing.

to dress or prepare with sauce; season: meat well sauced.

to make a sauce of: Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.

to give piquance or zest to.

to make agreeable or less harsh.

Informal. to speak impertinently or saucily to.

Nearby words

Origin of sauce

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin salsa, noun use of feminine of Latin salsus salted, past participle of sallere to salt, derivative of sāl salt¹

Related formssauce·less, adjectiveo·ver·sauce, verb (used with object), o·ver·sauced, o·ver·sauc·ing.

Can be confusedsauce source

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

Examples from the Web for sauce

Continue to cook until the sauce has reduced by three quarters.
Make Carla Hall’s Roasted Pork Loin With Cranberries|Carla Hall|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Finish the sauce by putting the roasting pan on the stovetop over medium-high heat.
Make Carla Hall’s Roasted Pork Loin With Cranberries|Carla Hall|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The future congressman also had some spaghetti but no sauce.
Kerry Bentivolio: The Congressman Who Believes in Santa Claus|Ben Jacobs|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Now you can scroll to the next direction on your recipe without getting batter or sauce all over your device.
The Daily Beast’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: For the Richard Hendriks in Your Life|Allison McNearney|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST

“I think everything is about sauce… chicken is just chicken,” she says.
Kelis’s Comeback: The R&B Diva on New Album ‘Food,’ Legacy of ‘Milkshake,’ and the Nas Split|Marlow Stern|May 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This swinging in the pan dissolves the flavor, which solidifies in the bottom of the pan; it greatly improves the sauce.
American Cookery|Various
The little bits left from the decoration are chopped and used in the salpicon or in a sauce.
The Century Cook Book|Mary Ronald
"What's sauce fo' the goose ought to be sauce fo' the gander," argued the ex-moonshiner.
A Tar-Heel Baron|Mabell Shippie Clarke Pelton
What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander (Was also dem Einen recht ist, muss dem Andern billig sein).
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume III (of 3)|Alexander Wheelock Thayer
These may also be served with plain sauce, or with Sauce Bechamel.
Ice Creams, Water Ices, Frozen Puddings Together with Refreshments for all Social Affairs|Mrs. S. T. Rorer

British Dictionary definitions for sauce

sauce

/ (sɔːs) /

noun

any liquid or semiliquid preparation eaten with food to enhance its flavour

anything that adds piquancy

US and Canadian stewed fruit

US dialect vegetables eaten with meat

informal impudent language or behaviour

verb (tr)

to prepare (food) with sauce

to add zest to

to make agreeable or less severe

informal to be saucy to

Derived Formssauceless, adjective

Word Origin for sauce

C14: via Old French from Latin salsus salted, from salīre to sprinkle with salt, from sal salt

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 sauce

sauce

mid-14c., from Old French sauce, sausse, from Latin salsa "things salted, salt food," noun use of fem. singular or neuter plural of adjective salsus "salted," from past participle of Old Latin sallere "to salt," from sal (genitive salis) "salt" (see salt (n.)).

Meaning "something which adds piquancy to words or actions" is recorded from c.1500; sense of "impertinence" first recorded 1835 (see saucy, and cf. sass). Slang meaning "liquor" first attested 1940.

sauce

mid-15c., "to season," from sauce (n.). From 1862 as "to speak impertinently." Related: Sauced; saucing.

Idioms and Phrases with sauce

sauce

In addition to the idiom beginning with sauce

sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, what's

also see:

hit the bottle (sauce)

sauce

noun

verb (used with object), sauced, sauc·ing.

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Nearby words

Origin of sauce

Examples from the Web for sauce

sauce

noun

verb (tr)

Word Origin for sauce

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