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definitions

sauce

[saws]
See more synonyms for sauce on Thesaurus.com
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. impertinence; sauciness.
  5. Slang. hard liquor (usually preceded by the): He's on the sauce again.
  6. Archaic. garden vegetables eaten with meat.
verb (used with object), sauced, sauc·ing.
  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.

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. 2018

Related Words for sauce

flavoring, gravy, relish, dressing, topping, dip, coulis, jus

Examples from the Web for sauce

Contemporary Examples of sauce

Historical Examples of sauce

British Dictionary definitions for sauce

sauce

noun
  1. any liquid or semiliquid preparation eaten with food to enhance its flavour
  2. anything that adds piquancy
  3. US and Canadian stewed fruit
  4. US dialect vegetables eaten with meat
  5. informal impudent language or behaviour
verb (tr)
  1. to prepare (food) with sauce
  2. to add zest to
  3. to make agreeable or less severe
  4. 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
n.

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.

v.

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

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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)
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.