Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To immerse in liquid for a period of time.
  • intransitive verb To make thoroughly wet or saturated.
  • intransitive verb To absorb (liquid, for example) through pores or interstices.
  • intransitive verb To be exposed to.
  • intransitive verb Informal To experience or take in mentally, especially eagerly and easily.
  • intransitive verb To remove (a stain, for example) by continued immersion.
  • intransitive verb To drink (alcoholic liquor), especially to excess.
  • intransitive verb To make (a person) drunk.
  • intransitive verb Slang To charge (a person) an inordinate amount for something.
  • intransitive verb To be immersed in liquid.
  • intransitive verb To seep into or permeate something.
  • intransitive verb To be taken in mentally.
  • intransitive verb Slang To drink to excess.
  • noun The act or process of soaking.
  • noun Liquid in which something may be soaked.
  • noun Slang A drunkard.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A slough.
  • noun In tanning, a tank or vat of water for soaking hides or skins.
  • noun A soaking, in any sense of the verb.
  • noun Specifically, a drinking-bout; a spree.
  • noun That in which anything is soaked; a steep.
  • noun One who or that which soaks.
  • noun A landspring.
  • noun A tippler; a hard drinker.
  • noun An over-stocking, with or without a foot, worn over the long stocking for warmth or protection from dirt. Compare boot-hose, stirruphose.
  • To lie in and become saturated with water or some other liquid; steep.
  • To pass, especially to enter, as a liquid, through pores or interstices; penetrate thoroughly by saturation: followed by in or through.
  • To flow.
  • To drink intemperately and habitually, especially strong drink; booze; be continually under the influence of liquor.
  • To become drained or dry. Compare soak, v. t., 7.
  • To sit over the fire absorbing the heat.
  • Hence To receive a prolonged baking; bake thoroughly: said of bread.
  • To cause to lie immersed in a liquid until thoroughly saturated; steep: as, to soak rice in water; to soak a sponge.
  • To flood; saturate; drench; steep.
  • To take up by absorption; absorb through pores or other openings; suck in, as a liquid or other fluid: followed by in or up.
  • Hence, to drink; especially, to drink immoderately; guzzle.
  • To penetrate, work, or accomplish by wetting thoroughly: often with through.
  • To make soft as by steeping; hence, to enfeeble; enervate.
  • To suck dry; exhaust; drain.
  • To bake thoroughly: said of the lengthened baking given, in particular, to bread, so that the cooking may be complete.
  • To “put in soak”; pawn; pledge: as, he soaked his watch for ten dollars.
  • To place in a furnace, or soaking pit, with the object of equalizing the temperature rather than causing an increase: especially applied to ingots of steel which, soon after casting, have a solid exterior or shell and a molten interior, and are therefore unfit for rolling until solid and of a nearly uniform temperature throughout.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To cause or suffer to lie in a fluid till the substance has imbibed what it can contain; to macerate in water or other liquid; to steep, as for the purpose of softening or freshening
  • transitive verb To drench; to wet thoroughly.
  • transitive verb To draw in by the pores, or through small passages
  • transitive verb To make (its way) by entering pores or interstices; -- often with through.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English soken, from Old English socian; see seuə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English soken, from Old English socian ("to soak, steep", literally "to cause to suck (up)"), from Proto-Germanic *sukōnan (“to soak”), causative of Proto-Germanic *sūkanan (“to suck”). Cognate with Middle Dutch soken ("to cause to suck"). More at suck.

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Examples

  • Maybe he thinks the period of White guilt pre-soak is over, and full-on cleansing can begin.

    First on the CNN Ticker: GOP questions Obama's police criticism 2009

  • Prime bathtub manga, the ideal complement for a good, relaxing soak, is generally romantic in nature, though not necessarily mushy.

    Why I re-read 2008

  • Prime bathtub manga, the ideal complement for a good, relaxing soak, is generally romantic in nature, though not necessarily mushy.

    02 « October « 2008 « The Manga Curmudgeon 2008

  • * Looking out my Aunt's guestroom window, I watched dark cordes* of rain soak the town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

    French Word-A-Day: 2006

  • * Looking out my Aunt's guestroom window, I watched dark cordes* of rain soak the town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

    accroupir - French Word-A-Day 2006

  • * Looking out my Aunt's guestroom window, I watched dark cordes* of rain soak the town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

    French Word-A-Day: 2006

  • The so-called soak time can range from fifty-two minutes to twenty-three hours, or whatever.

    VELOCITY DEE JACOB 2010

  • The so-called soak time can range from fifty-two minutes to twenty-three hours, or whatever.

    VELOCITY DEE JACOB 2010

  • The so-called soak time can range from fifty-two minutes to twenty-three hours, or whatever.

    VELOCITY DEE JACOB 2010

  • The so-called soak time can range from fifty-two minutes to twenty-three hours, or whatever.

    VELOCITY DEE JACOB 2010

Comments

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  • To be soaked in riches is the opposite of "soak the rich".

    October 24, 2008