sauce

[saws]

noun

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

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

   cranberry sauce.

3. something that adds piquance or zest.

4. Informal.,  sauciness; impertinence; impudence.

5. Slang.,  Usually the sauce hard liquor.

   He's on the sauce again.

6. Archaic.,  garden vegetables eaten with meat.

verb (used with object)

sauced, saucing 

1. to dress or prepare with sauce; season.

   meat well sauced.

2. to make a sauce of.

   Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.

3. to give piquance or zest to.

4. to make agreeable or less harsh.

5. Informal.,  to speak impertinently or saucily to.

sauce

/ sɔːs /

noun

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

2. anything that adds piquancy

3. stewed fruit

4. dialect,  vegetables eaten with meat

5. informal,  impudent language or behaviour

verb

1. to prepare (food) with sauce

2. to add zest to

3. to make agreeable or less severe

4. informal,  to be saucy to

Other Word Forms

• sauceless adjective
• oversauce verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of sauce¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin salsa, noun use of feminine of Latin salsus “salted,” past participle of sallere “to salt,” derivative of sāl “salt”; salt ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of sauce¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

• hit the bottle (sauce)

Example Sentences

The food bank is particularly in need of jarred sauces, tinned food, and freeze dried food packets.

Read more on BBC

Fried potatoes reheat better than mashed, and latkes are an ideal vehicle to pile turkey, gravy and cranberry sauce on.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The enchiladas have a sweet and spicy combo of sauces on top that are so good.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

So I gave in to indulgence and made a béchamel: one of the five mother sauces of classical French cooking, a simple alchemy of butter, flour and milk that turns heat into velvet.

Read more on Salon

The meal includes a frozen turkey, potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing mix, gravy, bread, and frozen corn.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• dressing 
• flavoring 
• gravy 
• relish