[sohp] 
| 1. | a substance used for washing and cleansing purposes, usually made by treating a fat with an alkali, as sodium or potassium hydroxide, and consisting chiefly of the sodium or potassium salts of the acids contained in the fat. |
| 2. | any metallic salt of an acid derived from a fat. |
| 3. | Slang. money, esp. as used for bribery in politics. |
| 4. | Slang. Also, soaper. soap opera. |
| 5. | to rub, cover, lather, or treat with soap. |
| 6. | no soap, Informal. no go: He wanted me to vote for him, but I told him no soap. |
| soap (sōp) n.
[Middle English sope, from Old English sāpe.] |
soap
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soap (sōp)
n.
A cleansing agent made from a mixture of the sodium salts of various fatty acids of natural oils and fats.
A metallic salt of a fatty acid, as of aluminum or iron.
SOAP
1.
2.
(2001-03-23)
Soap
(Jer. 2:22; Mal. 3:2; Heb. borith), properly a vegetable alkali, obtained from the ashes of certain plants, particularly the salsola kali (saltwort), which abounds on the shores of the Dead Sea and of the Mediterranean. It does not appear that the Hebrews were acquainted with what is now called "soap," which is a compound of alkaline carbonates with oleaginous matter. The word "purely" in Isa. 1:25 (R.V., "throughly;" marg., "as with lye") is lit. "as with _bor_." This word means "clearness," and hence also that which makes clear, or pure, alkali. "The ancients made use of alkali mingled with oil, instead of soap (Job 9:30), and also in smelting metals, to make them melt and flow more readily and purely" (Gesenius).
soap
In addition to the idiom beginning with soap, also see no dice (soap); on one's soapbox; soft soap.
SOAP
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