souse

¹ American  

[saus] / saʊs /

verb (used with object)

soused, sousing

1. to plunge into water or other liquid; immerse.

2. to drench, as with water.

   Synonyms:

   wet, waterlog, soak, saturate, douse

3. to dash or pour, as water.

4. to steep in pickling brine; pickle.

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verb (used without object)

soused, sousing

1. to plunge into water or other liquid.

2. to be soaked or drenched.

3. to be steeping or soaking in something.

noun

1. an act of sousing.

2. something kept or steeped in pickle, especially the head, ears, and feet of a pig.

3. a liquid used as a pickle.

4. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a habitual drinker of alcohol who is frequently intoxicated.

souse ² American  

[saus] / saʊs /

verb (used without object)

soused, sousing

1. to swoop down.

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verb (used with object)

soused, sousing

1. to swoop or pounce upon.

noun

Falconry.

1. a rising while in flight.

2. a swooping or pouncing.

souse ¹ British  

/ saʊs /

verb

1. to plunge (something, oneself, etc) into water or other liquid

2. to drench or be drenched

3. (tr) to pour or dash (liquid) over (a person or thing)

4. to steep or cook (food) in a marinade

5. slang (tr; usually passive) to make drunk

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noun

1. the liquid or brine used in pickling

2. the act or process of sousing

3. slang a habitual drunkard

souse ² British  

/ saʊs /

verb

1. to swoop suddenly downwards (on a prey)

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noun

1. a sudden downward swoop

Etymology

Origin of souse¹

First recorded 1350–1400 and in 1915–20 souse ¹ for def. 11; Middle English noun souce, sows, from Old French souz, sous, souce “pickled (meat),” from Germanic (akin to salt ¹ ); the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of souse²

First recorded in 1350–1400; by-form of source in its earlier literal sense “rising”

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Explanation

When you souse something, you plunge it into water or another liquid. If your little dog gets sprayed by a skunk, you'll want to souse him in a perfumed bubble bath to get the smell out. This word originally meant "plunge into vinegar" or "pickle," and you can still use it that way: "Let's souse these little cucumbers from the garden." The Germanic root of souse is related to pickling, meaning "brine" or "salt." You can also use souse as a noun: "Fido, you stink! Time for a good souse!" These days, it's also commonly used in an informal, figurative way to mean "intoxicated."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

souse soused sousing

Specialty products include beef hot dogs, cocktail sausages and hot or mild souse under the Magnolia brand.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 27, 2018

From here on out there are drops, rocks, and souse holes aplenty, but a straightforward line through the melee beckons.

From Time Magazine Archive

Baker's hero, Sampson Shillitoe, poet, souse, womanizer and pratfalling Prometheus, might be the worshipful nephew of Joyce Gary's artist-as-an-old-grog, Gulley Jimson.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was going also to Bayreuth, Germany, to "take a big Wagnerian souse in Parsifal to purge myself of all my sins . . . moral and political."

From Time Magazine Archive

But, I tell 'ee, I did souse his head wi' vinegar when I got 'un indoors.

From The Passionate Elopement by Compton MacKenzie

Her main dish was smoked rainbow trout, citrus cured rillette, fried egg, chive mash, soused vegetables and herb butter sauce.

From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2023

What will this year’s Cannes jurors think of Östlund’s mash-up of Buñuelian chaos and “Gilligan’s Island,” complete with Woody Harrelson as increasingly soused skipper?

From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2022

Where they diverge has to do the rough grain Walter assigns to Malory, a quality the stubbornly refined but equally soused Lucille rarely demonstrates.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2021

The acting is made of cardboard; but the legendary freak-out queen Veronica Cartwright is playing the movie’s soused matriarch — she’s cardboard origami.

From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2020

‘Wake up and go down yourself. Call the cop and let him get soused on the chain gang with cornbread and peas. Go to it, Misses Brannon.’

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

First he took on a whiskered lion’s shape, a serpent then; a leopard; a great boar; then sousing water; then a tall green tree.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

The bird hopped it, trod on air as one foot overstepped the narrow edge, and, with a sousing splash, he plunged headlong into the water.

From The Wireless Officer by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

With the wheels sucking and sousing in the mud, the Wadsworth machine moved forward as rapidly as the conditions would permit.

From Dave Porter At Bear Camp or, The Wild Man of Mirror Lake by Walter S. Rogers

I have no hesitation in saying that her stern struck the ground, but no injury was done beyond sousing a few trunks and beds.

From Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp Late a Lieut. in His Majesty's 87th Regiment by John Shipp

Once, on the long tote-road from St. Leonards to the headwaters of the Restigouche, I saw Mooweesuk sitting on a rock by a trout brook diligently sousing something that he had just caught.

From A Little Brother to the Bear and other Animal Stories by William J. (William Joseph) Long

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