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Sauce - 5 dictionary results

sauce

  [saws] noun, verb, sauced, sauc⋅ing.
Use Sauce in a Sentence
–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 prec. by the): He's on the sauce again.
6. Archaic. garden vegetables eaten with meat.
–verb (used with object)
7. to dress or prepare with sauce; season: meat well sauced.
8. to make a sauce of: Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.
9. to give piquance or zest to.
10. to make agreeable or less harsh.
11. Informal. to speak impertinently or saucily to.
Origin:
1300–50; ME < MF < LL salsa, n. use of fem. of L salsus salted, ptp. of sallere to salt, deriv. of sāl salt

Related forms:
sauceless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Sauce
sauce   (sôs)   
n.  
  1. A flavorful seasoning or relish served as an accompaniment to food, especially a liquid dressing or topping for food.
  2. Stewed fruit, usually served with other foods.
  3. Something that adds zest, flavor, or piquancy.
  4. Informal Impudent speech or behavior; impertinence or sauciness.
  5. Slang Alcoholic liquor.
tr.v.   sauced, sauc·ing, sauc·es
  1. To season or flavor with sauce.
  2. To add piquancy or zest to.
  3. Informal To be impertinent or impudent to.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *salsa, from Latin, feminine of salsus, past participle of sallere, to salt; see sal- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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sauce 
1350, from O.Fr. sauce, sausse, from noun use of L. salsa, fem. sing. or neut. pl. of salsus "salted," from pp. of Old L. sallere "to salt," from sal (gen. salis) "salt" (see salt). 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. Colloquial saucebox "one addicted to making saucy remarks" is from 1588.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Language Translation for : Sauce
Spanish: salsa,
German: die Soße,
Japanese: ソース
More Translations »

sauce

In addition to the idiom beginning with sauce, also see hit the bottle (sauce).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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sauce

liquid or semiliquid mixture that is added to a food as it cooks or that is served with it. Sauces provide flavour, moisture, and a contrast in texture and colour. They may also serve as a medium in which food is contained, for example, the veloute sauce of creamed chicken. Seasoning liquids (soy sauce, hot pepper sauce, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce) are used both as ingredients in cooking and at table as condiments.

Learn more about sauce with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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