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worth one's salt

 - 8 dictionary results

salt

1  [sawlt]
Use worth one's salt in a Sentence
–noun
1. a crystalline compound, sodium chloride, NaCl, occurring as a mineral, a constituent of seawater, etc., and used for seasoning food, as a preservative, etc.
2. table salt mixed with a particular herb or seasoning for which it is named: garlic salt; celery salt.
3. Chemistry. any of a class of compounds formed by the replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms of an acid with elements or groups, which are composed of anions and cations, and which usually ionize in solution; a product formed by the neutralization of an acid by a base.
4. salts, any of various salts used as purgatives, as Epsom salts.
5. an element that gives liveliness, piquancy, or pungency: Anecdotes are the salt of his narrative.
6. wit; pungency.
7. a small, usually open dish, as of silver or glass, used on the table for holding salt.
8. Informal. a sailor, esp. an old or experienced one.
–verb (used with object)
9. to season with salt.
10. to cure, preserve, or treat with salt.
11. to furnish with salt: to salt cattle.
12. to treat with common salt or with any chemical salt.
13. to spread salt, esp. rock salt, on so as to melt snow or ice: The highway department salted the roads after the storm.
14. to introduce rich ore or other valuable matter fraudulently into (a mine, the ground, a mineral sample, etc.) to create a false impression of value.
15. to add interest or excitement to: a novel salted with witty dialogue.
–adjective
16. containing salt; having the taste of salt: salt water.
17. cured or preserved with salt: salt cod.
18. inundated by or growing in salt water: salt marsh.
19. producing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is not sweet, sour, or bitter.
20. pungent or sharp: salt speech.
—Verb phrases
21. salt away,
a. Also, salt down. to preserve by adding quantities of salt to, as meat.
b. Informal. to keep in reserve; store away; save: to salt away most of one's earnings.
22. salt out, to separate (a dissolved substance) from a solution by the addition of a salt, esp. common salt.
—Idioms
23. with a grain of salt, with reserve or allowance; with an attitude of skepticism: Diplomats took the reports of an impending crisis with a grain of salt.
24. worth one's salt, deserving of one's wages or salary: We couldn't find an assistant worth her salt.
Origin:
bef. 900; (n. and adj.) ME; OE sealt; c. G Salz, ON, Goth salt; akin to L sāl, Gk háls (see halo- ); (v.) ME salten, OE s(e)altan; cf. OHG salzan, ON salta, D zouten; see salary

Related forms:
saltlike, adjective

Synonyms:
5. flavor, savor. 8. See sailor.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Cultural Dictionary

worth one's salt

Worth one's salary (a word that comes from the Latin for salt) or wages. From the Roman custom of paying soldiers money to buy salt.


salt

In chemistry, a compound resulting from the combination of an acid and a base, which neutralize each other.

Note: Common table salt is sodium chloride.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
salt

  1. n.
    a sailor. (Especially with old.) : I've sailed a little, but you could hardly call me an old salt.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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worth (one's) salt

  1. mod.
    worth (in productivity) what it costs to keep one. : You're not worth your salt. Pack up!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

SALT 
Cold War U.S.-U.S.S.R. nuclear weapons negotiations, 1968, acronym for "Strategic Arms Limitation Talks." The last element sometimes also is understood as treaty.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2salt
Function: adjective
1 : SALINE, SALTY
2 : being or inducing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is suggestive of seawater—compare BITTER, SOUR, SWEET
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

salt (sôlt)
n.

  1. A colorless or white crystalline solid, chiefly sodium chloride, used extensively as a food seasoning and preservative.

  2. A chemical compound replacing all or part of the hydrogen ions of an acid with metal ions or electropositive radicals.

  3. salts Any of various mineral salts, such as magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate, or potassium sodium tartrate, used as laxatives or cathartics.

  4. salts Smelling salts.

  5. salts Epsom salts.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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