SOAPS
Noun
soaps
plural of soap
Verb
soaps
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of soap
Anagrams
• Pasos, possa, psoas
Source: Wiktionary
SOAP
Soap, n. Etym: [OE. sope, AS. sape; akin to D. zeep, G. seife, OHG.
seifa, Icel. sapa, Sw. s, Dan. s, and perhaps to AS. sipan to drip,
MHG. sifen, and L. sebum tallow. Cf. Saponaceous.]
Definition: A substance which dissolves in water, thus forming a lather,
and is used as a cleansing agent. Soap is produced by combining fats
or oils with alkalies or alkaline earths, usually by boiling, and
consists of salts of sodium, potassium, etc., with the fatty acids
(oleic, stearic, palmitic, etc.). See the Note below, and cf.
Saponification. By extension, any compound of similar composition or
properties, whether used as a cleaning agent or not.
Note: In general, soaps are of two classes, hard and soft. Calcium,
magnesium, lead, etc., form soaps, but they are insoluble and
useless.
The purifying action of soap depends upon the fact that it is
decomposed by a large quantity of water into free alkali and an
insoluble acid salt. The first of these takes away the fatty dirt on
washing, and the latter forms the soap lather which envelops the
greasy matter and thus tends to remove it. Roscoe & Schorlemmer.
Castile soap, a fine-grained hard soap, white or mottled, made of
olive oil and soda; -- called also Marseilles, or Venetian, soap.
– Hard soap, any one of a great variety of soaps, of different
ingredients and color, which are hard and compact. All solid soaps
are of this class.
– Lead soap, an insoluble, white, pliable soap made by saponifying
an oil (olive oil) with lead oxide; -- used externally in medicine.
Called also lead plaster, diachylon, etc.
– Marine soap. See under Marine.
– Pills of soap (Med.), pills containing soap and opium.
– Potash soap, any soap made with potash, esp. the soft soaps, and
a hard soap made from potash and castor oil.
– Pumice soap, any hard soap charged with a gritty powder, as
silica, alumina, powdered pumice, etc., which assists mechanically in
the removal of dirt.
– Resin soap, a yellow soap containing resin, -- used in bleaching.
– Silicated soap, a cheap soap containing water glass (sodium
silicate).
– Soap bark. (Bot.) See Quillaia bark.
– Soap bubble, a hollow iridescent globe, formed by blowing a film
of soap suds from a pipe; figuratively, something attractive, but
extremely unsubstantial.
This soap bubble of the metaphysicians. J. C. Shairp.
– Soap cerate, a cerate formed of soap, olive oil, white wax, and
the subacetate of lead, sometimes used as an application to allay
inflammation.
– Soap fat, the refuse fat of kitchens, slaughter houses, etc.,
used in making soap.
– Soap liniment (Med.), a liniment containing soap, camphor, and
alcohol.
– Soap nut, the hard kernel or seed of the fruit of the soapberry
tree, -- used for making beads, buttons, etc.
– Soap plant (Bot.), one of several plants used in the place of
soap, as the Chlorogalum pomeridianum, a California plant, the bulb
of which, when stripped of its husk and rubbed on wet clothes, makes
a thick lather, and smells not unlike new brown soap. It is called
also soap apple, soap bulb, and soap weed.
– Soap tree. (Bot.) Same as Soapberry tree.
– Soda soap, a soap containing a sodium salt. The soda soaps are
all hard soaps.
– Soft soap, a soap of a gray or brownish yellow color, and of a
slimy, jellylike consistence, made from potash or the lye from wood
ashes. It is strongly alkaline and often contains glycerin, and is
used in scouring wood, in cleansing linen, in dyehouses, etc.
Figuratively, flattery; wheedling; blarney. [Colloq.] -- Toilet soap,
hard soap for the toilet, usually colored and perfumed.
Soap, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Soaped; p. pr. & vb. n. Soaping.]
1. To rub or wash over with soap.
2. To flatter; to wheedle. [Slang]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition