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no soap. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
no soap, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
no soap in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
no soap you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
The phrase appears, with no clear meaning, in a 1755 Samuel Foote nonsense prose poem, "The Grand Panjandrum". In the U.S., soap took on the meaning of money (see OED), and so no soap was a denial of money, say in response to a request for some.
Phrase
no soap
- (idiomatic, slang, dated) It is (or was) a failure.
- Synonyms: no joy, nothing doing
1942, Rex Stout, Black Orchids, Farrar & Rinehart:I went back down to the men's room on the second floor and yelled his name in front of the private apartments, but no soap.
1953, Saul Bellow, chapter 25, in The Adventures of Augie March, New York: Viking Press, →OCLC:I waited for his assistance but it didn't come. He let me trail for I don't know how long. I hollered and cried, cursed, rocked the boat. No soap.
1983 March, Bruce Jay Friedman, “Detroit Abe”, in Esquire:Still and all, after weighing the pluses and minuses of Smooth's offer, he came, to the only possible conclusion for a civilized man—no soap.
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