Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
soak. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
soak, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
soak in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
soak you have here. The definition of the word
soak will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
soak, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English soken, from Old English socian (“to soak, steep”, literally “to cause to suck (up)”), from Proto-Germanic *sukōną (“to soak”), causative of Proto-Germanic *sūkaną (“to suck”). Cognate with Middle Dutch soken (“to cause to suck”). More at suck.
Pronunciation
Verb
soak (third-person singular simple present soaks, present participle soaking, simple past and past participle soaked)
- (intransitive) To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it.
I'm going to soak in the bath for a couple of hours.
- (transitive) To immerse in liquid to the point of saturation or thorough permeation.
Soak the beans overnight before cooking.
- (intransitive) To penetrate or permeate by saturation.
The water soaked into my shoes and gave me wet feet.
1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, ; and Archibald Constable and Co., , →OCLC:The rivulet beneath […] soaked its way obscurely through wreaths of snow.
- (transitive) To allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed; to take in, receive. (usually + up)
A sponge soaks up water; the skin soaks in moisture.
I soaked up all the knowledge I could at university.
1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.
- (slang, figurative, transitive) To overcharge or swindle out of a large amount of money.
- Synonym: fleece
1928, Upton Sinclair, Boston:It's a blackmail ring, and the district attorneys get a share of the loot. […] Well, they got him in the same kind of jam, and soaked him to the tune of three hundred and eighty-six thousand.
2015, P. J. O'Rourke, Thrown Under the Omnibus: A Reader:Sure, if we own an aerospace contracting company, a five-thousand-acre sugar-beet farm, or a savings and loan with the president's son on the board of directors, we can soak Uncle Sucker for millions.
- (slang, dated) To drink intemperately or gluttonously.
- (metallurgy, transitive) To heat (a metal) before shaping it.
- (ceramics, transitive) To hold a kiln at a particular temperature for a given period of time.
We should soak the kiln at cone 9 for half an hour.
- (figurative, transitive) To absorb; to drain.
1624, Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture, , London: Iohn Bill, →OCLC:That they will want a certaine sucking and soaking
- (slang, chiefly Mormonism) To engage in penetrative sex without hip thrusting.
Derived terms
Translations
to be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it
- Assamese: টোকা (tüka)
- Bulgarian: накисвам се (nakisvam se)
- Catalan: amarar (ca)
- Cebuano: humol
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 濕透/湿透 (shītòu)
- Dutch: doorweken (nl)
- Finnish: liota (fi)
- French: tremper (fr)
- German: durchnässen (de)
- Higaonon: hinomol
- Hungarian: ázik (hu)
- Ingrian: liota
- Italian: inzupparsi, imbeversi
- Japanese: 濡れる (ja) (nureru), 浸る (ja) (hitaru) 染みる (ja) (shimiru)
- Korean: 잠기다 (ko) (jamgida)
- Latvian: mirkt (lv)
- Lushootseed: baʔsil
- Polish: przesiąknąć (pl), przemaczać się impf, przemoczyć się pf
- Portuguese: molhar-se, ensopar-se, encharcar-se
- Quechua: chulluy
- Russian: намока́ть (ru) impf (namokátʹ), намо́кнуть (ru) pf (namóknutʹ), промока́ть (ru) impf (promokátʹ), промо́кнуть (ru) pf (promóknutʹ), отмока́ть (ru) impf (otmokátʹ)
- Slovak: napustiť, nasiaknuť
- Spanish: empapar (es), remojar (es), embeber (es)
- Venetian: smojar
- Vietnamese: ngâm (vi)
- Yoruba: rin, rin gbingbin
|
to immerse in liquid to the point of saturation or thorough permeation
- Arabic: please add this translation if you can
- Aromanian: molj
- Bulgarian: кисна (bg) (kisna)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 浸 (zam3), 浸泡 (zam3 paau3), 浸透 (jam3 tau3)
- Mandarin: 浸泡 (zh) (jìnpào), 浸透 (zh) (jìntòu), 泡 (zh) (pào)
- Dutch: weken (nl)
- Finnish: liottaa (fi)
- French: faire tremper, immerger (fr)
- Galician: botar de mollo, amolecer (gl), enchoupar
- German: tränken (de), einweichen (de)
- Greek:
- Ancient: διαβρέχω (diabrékhō), ἀποβρέχω (apobrékhō)
- Hungarian: áztat (hu)
- Ido: arozegar (io)
- Ingrian: liottaa
- Italian: mettere a bagno, mettere a mollo, imbevere (it)
- Japanese: 濡らす (ja) (nurasu), 浸す (ja) (hitasu)
- Korean: 잠그다 (ko) (jamgeuda)
- Latin: imbuō
- Polish: przemaczać impf, przemoczyć pf
- Portuguese: molhar (pt), ensopar (pt), encharcar (pt), deixar de molho, demolhar, pôr de molho
- Quechua: chulluchiy
- Romanian: muia (ro)
- Russian: выма́чивать (ru) impf (vymáčivatʹ), вы́мочить (ru) (výmočitʹ)
- Slovak: namočiť, vymáčať
- Spanish: remojar (es), empapar (es)
- Swedish: blötlägga (sv)
- Venetian: smojar
- Vietnamese: ngâm (vi)
- Yoruba: rẹ
|
to penetrate or permeate by saturation
to allow (especially a liquid) to be absorbed
Translations to be checked
Verb
soak (third-person singular simple present soaks, present participle soaking, simple past and past participle soaked)
- (transitive) (slang, boxing) To hit or strike.
Noun
soak (plural soaks)
- An immersion in water etc.
2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in The Guardian:wildlife tourism has turned Knepp into a successful business that employs more people than it did when it was a farm. Springtime overnighters snuggling down in a luxury treehouse after a soak in the open-air, wood-fired Swedish Hikki bathtub may hear nightingales serenading their consorts
- After the strenuous climb, I had a nice long soak in a bath.
- (slang, British) A drunkard.
- (slang) A carouse; a drinking session.
- (Australia) A low-lying depression that fills with water after rain.
1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber & Faber, published 2003, page 38:I set off early to walk along the Melbourne Road where, one of the punters had told me, there was a soak with plenty of frogs in it.
- 1996, Doris Pinkington, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 170:
- Molly and Daisy finished their breakfast and decided to take all their dirty clothes and wash them in the soak further down the river.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
References
Anagrams
Indonesian
Etymology
From Dutch zwak (“weak”), from Middle Dutch swac, from Old Dutch *swak, from Proto-West Germanic *swak.
Pronunciation
Adjective
soak
- (colloquial) weak.
- Synonym: lemah
Further reading