sop
- a piece of solid food, as bread, for dipping in liquid food.
- anything thoroughly soaked.
- something given to pacify or quiet, or as a bribe: The political boss gave him some cash as a sop.
- a weak-willed or spineless person; milksop.
- to dip or soak in liquid food: to sop bread in gravy.
- to drench.
- to take up (liquid) by absorption (usually followed by up): He used bread to sop up the gravy.
- to be or become soaking wet.
- (of a liquid) to soak (usually followed by in).
Origin of sop
Synonyms for sop
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comSOP
or S.O.P.
- Standard Operating Procedure; Standing Operating Procedure.
sop.
Examples from the Web for sop
Contemporary Examples of sop
A sop to lawmakers who represent congressional districts consisting entirely of catfish ponds.
Cynics, of course, can argue that this is just a sop to Western sensibilities.
Liberals regard them as a sop to the wealthy, who receive the largest share of the benefits.
Taking it on now is strictly Obama's sop to liberals appalled by his spineless obsession with managing public perceptions.
Historical Examples of sop
Time was when you all pulled the one way, and a sop to the Pope pleased you all.
Lord KilgobbinCharles Lever
Judas that he was, he took her sop, and then sold her for thirty pieces of silver.
Little Novels of ItalyMaurice Henry Hewlett
This man—this alleged brother, threw him a sop, insulted him by offering him charity.
The MaskArthur Hornblow
That was one sop to conscience when I remembered that she was a wife.
Desert DustEdwin L. Sabin
To-morrow he will be throwing some sop of reform to the people, and it will be too late for a Republic.
VeraOscar Wilde
sop
- (often plural) food soaked in a liquid before being eaten
- a concession, bribe, etc, given to placate or mollifya sop to one's feelings
- informal a stupid or weak person
- (tr) to dip or soak (food) in liquid
- (when intr, often foll by in) to soak or be soaked
Word Origin for sop
SOP
- standard operating procedure
sop.
- soprano
Word Origin and History for sop
Old English sopp- "bread soaked in some liquid," (in soppcuppe "cup into which sops are put"), from Proto-Germanic *supp-, related to Old English verb suppan (see sup (v.2)), probably reinforced by Old French soupe (see soup (n.)). Meaning "something given to appease" is from 1660s, a reference to the sops given by the Sibyl to Cerberus in the "Aeneid."
Old English soppian, from the source of sop (n.). Related: Sopped; sopping.