suds

[ suhdz ]

/ sʌdz /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR suds ON THESAURUS.COM

noun (used with a plural verb)

soapy water.

foam; lather.

Slang. beer.

verb (used with object)

to wash with soap or detergent (often followed by out): to suds out a pair of socks.

RELATED WORDS

beer, foam, soap, lather

Nearby words

Origin of suds

1540–50; 1900–05 for def 3; perhaps < Middle Dutch sudse puddle, marsh; akin to sodden

Related formssuds·a·ble, adjectivenon·suds·ing, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for suds

With luck, once the matches begin, the tensions will subside with the suds on a cold Budweiser.
Rio Buildings’ Collapse New Sign of World Cup Headache for Brazil|Mac Margolis|January 28, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Mrs. Twining's faint spark of innate warmth was never roused by the contact of suds.
An Ambitious Woman|Edgar Fawcett
Did our washing before breakfast, Evie doing the rubbing and I built fire and "toted" suds.
An Artilleryman's Diary|Jenkin Lloyd Jones
The old woman shall give you a taste o' the suds and the hot iron.
For Faith and Freedom|Walter Besant

If you happen to live in a house which has marble fire-places, never wash them with suds; this destroys the polish, in time.
The American Frugal Housewife|Lydia M. Child
The cat blinks sleepily in the sunshine and dreams of a future unmarred by suds and a slippery foothold.
Rosemary and Rue|Amber

British Dictionary definitions for suds

suds

/ (sʌdz) /

pl n

the bubbles on the surface of water in which soap, detergents, etc, have been dissolved; lather

soapy water

slang, mainly US and Canadian beer or the bubbles floating on it

Derived Formssudsy, adjective

Word Origin for suds

C16: probably from Middle Dutch sudse marsh; related to Middle Low German sudde swamp; see seethe

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 suds

suds

1540s, "dregs, leavings, muck," especially in East Anglia, "ooze left by flood" (this may be the original sense), perhaps borrowed from Middle Dutch sudse "marsh, bog," cognate with Old English soden, past participle of seoþan (see seethe). Meaning "soapy water" dates from 1580s; slang meaning "beer" first attested 1904.