sop

[sop]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sop ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

verb (used with object), sopped, sop·ping.

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.

verb (used without object), sopped, sop·ping.

to be or become soaking wet.

(of a liquid) to soak (usually followed by in).

Origin of sop

before 1000; (noun) Middle English; Old English sopp; cognate with Old Norse soppa; (v.) Old English soppian, derivative of the noun (not recorded in ME). See sup²

Synonyms for sop

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sop ON THESAURUS.COM

3. tip, gratuity, payoff.

SOP

or S.O.P.

Standard Operating Procedure; Standing Operating Procedure.

sop.

soprano.

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

Related Words for sop

dunk, milksop, saturate, weakling, soak, absorb, wet, steep, douse, bribe, dip

Examples from the Web for sop

Contemporary Examples of sop

A sop to lawmakers who represent congressional districts consisting entirely of catfish ponds.
Up to a Point: P.J. O’Rourke on Valentine’s Day and Oral Hygiene
P. J. O’Rourke
February 14, 2014
Cynics, of course, can argue that this is just a sop to Western sensibilities.
Morsi Finally Answers Jeff Goldberg
Raphael Magarik
June 28, 2012
Liberals regard them as a sop to the wealthy, who receive the largest share of the benefits.
In Second Term, What Will Obama Do About Bush Tax Cuts?
Noam Scheiber
March 2, 2012
Taking it on now is strictly Obama's sop to liberals appalled by his spineless obsession with managing public perceptions.
Obama's Desperate Gay Pander
Lee Siegel
February 2, 2010

Historical Examples of sop

Time was when you all pulled the one way, and a sop to the Pope pleased you all.
Lord Kilgobbin
Charles Lever
Judas that he was, he took her sop, and then sold her for thirty pieces of silver.
Little Novels of Italy
Maurice Henry Hewlett
This man—this alleged brother, threw him a sop, insulted him by offering him charity.
The Mask
Arthur Hornblow
That was one sop to conscience when I remembered that she was a wife.
Desert Dust
Edwin L. Sabin
To-morrow he will be throwing some sop of reform to the people, and it will be too late for a Republic.
Vera
Oscar Wilde

British Dictionary definitions for sop

sop

noun

(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

verb sops, sopping or sopped

(tr) to dip or soak (food) in liquid

(when intr, often foll by in) to soak or be soaked

Word Origin for sop

Old English sopp; related to Old Norse soppa soup, Old High German sopfa milk with bread; see sup ²

SOP

abbreviation for

standard operating procedure

sop.

abbreviation for

soprano

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 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.