I. ˈsōp noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English sope, from Old English sāpe; akin to Middle Dutch sepe soap, Old High German seifa soap, Old English sāp amber, salve, Latin sebum tallow, grease, Tocharian A sepal salve
1.
a. : a cleansing and emulsifying agent that is made usually either from fats and oils (as a mixture of tallow and coconut oil) by saponification with alkali in the boiling process or the cold process or from fatty acids by neutralization with alkali, that consists essentially of a mixture of water-soluble sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids, and that may contain other ingredients (as sodium carbonate or other builders, perfume, coloring agents, fluorescent dyes, disinfectants, or abrasive material) — sometimes distinguished from detergent ; compare hard soap , resin soap , soft soap , surface-active agent , toilet soap
b. : a water-soluble salt of a single fatty acid or similar acid
c. : a usually water-insoluble metal salt other than an alkali-metal salt of a fatty acid or similar acid (as a resin acid or a naphthenic acid) that may be a nuisance (as the calcium and magnesium soaps formed as a curd when ordinary soap is used in hard water) or that may be useful as a paint drier and for other purposes : metallic soap
2. : soap as prepared especially for the trade
a full stock of soaps
•
- no soap
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
1.
a. : to rub soap over or into especially so as to make a lather or coating
soap one's hands
soaping clothes
soaped crosses on windows and automobiles — Holiday
b. : to treat or scour (as cloth) with a soap solution
2. : to address in smooth or complimentary speech : flatter
as I soaped the dean I was sure of having one hearer in my favor — O.W.Holmes †1935
— compare soft-soap
III. noun
1. : soap opera
2. : the melodrama and sentimentality characteristic of a soap opera ; also : something (as a novel) having such qualities