/ səʊl; NAmE soʊl/ noun
SPIRIT OF PERSON
1.
[ C ] the spiritual part of a person, believed to exist after death :
He believed his immortal soul was in peril.
The howling wind sounded like the wailing of lost souls (= the spirits of dead people who are not in heaven) .
INNER CHARACTER
2.
[ C ] a person's inner character, containing their true thoughts and feelings :
There was a feeling of restlessness deep in her soul.
SPIRITUAL / MORAL / ARTISTIC QUALITIES
3.
[ sing. ] the spiritual and moral qualities of humans in general
SYN psyche :
the dark side of the human soul
4.
[ U , C ] strong and good human feeling, especially that gives a work of art its quality or enables sb to recognize and enjoy that quality :
It was a very polished performance, but it lacked soul.
5.
[ sing. ] the ~ of sth a perfect example of a good quality :
He is the soul of discretion.
PERSON
6.
[ C ] (becoming old-fashioned ) a person of a particular type :
She's lost all her money, poor soul.
You're a brave soul.
7.
[ C ] (especially in negative sentences) a person :
There wasn't a soul in sight (= nobody was in sight) .
Don't tell a soul (= do not tell anyone) .
( literary )
a village of 300 souls (= with 300 people living there)
MUSIC
8.
(also ˈsoul music ) [ U ] a type of music that expresses strong emotions, made popular by African American musicians :
a soul singer
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IDIOMS
- good for the soul
—more at bare verb , body , god , heart , life , sell verb
For more information see the Cultural Guide
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English sāwol , sāw(e)l , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ziel and German Seele .