soda

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various forms of sodium carbonate.
2. n. Chemically combined sodium.
3. n. See carbonated water.
4. n. Chiefly Northeastern U.S., Eastern Missouri, & Southwestern Illinois See soft drink. See Regional Note at tonic.
5. n. A refreshment made from carbonated water, ice cream, and usually a flavoring.
6. n. Games The card turned face up at the beginning of faro.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Sesquicarbonate or normal carbonate of sodium (Na₂CO₃); soda-ash: the latter being the common name of the commercial article, one of the most, if not the most, important of all the Products of chemical manufacture. Various hydrated carbonates of sodium occur in nature—the decahydrate or natron; the monohydrate, known as thermonatrite; and trona, a compound of the sesquicarbonate and the bicarbonate with three equivalents of water. These natural carbonates occur in solution in the water of various alkaline lakes, or as deposits at the bottoms of such as have become dried up, but usually mixed with more or less common salt, sodium sulphate, and other saline combinations. It was from these deposits, and from the incineration of various plants growing by the sea-shore (Salsola, Salicornia, Chenopodium, Statice, Reaumuria, Nitraria, Tetragonia, Mesembryanthemum), that soda was formerly obtained. These sources have become of little importance since artificial soda began to be made from common salt, a process invented by Leblanc, and put in operation near Paris toward the end of the eighteenth century. By this process common salt is decomposed by sulphuric acid, and the resulting sodium sulphate is mixed with limestone and coal, and heated in a reverberatory furnace, the product (technically known as black ash) consisting essentially of soluble sodium carbonate and insoluble calcium sulphid, which are easily separated from each other by lixiviation. By the Leblanc process the soda used in the arts was almost exclusively produced until about thirty years ago, when the so-called ammonia or Solvay process began to become of importance. This process had been patented in England as early as 1838, and tried there and near Paris, but without success. The difficulties were first overcome by E. Solvay, who in 1861 established a manufactory of soda by this process (since known by his name) near Brussels. By the ammonia or Solvay process a concentrated solution of common salt is saturated with ammonia, and then decomposed by carbonic acid, By this means sodium chlorid is converted into sodium carbonate, and the ammonia is afterward recovered by the aid of lime or magnesia. This process has within the past few years become of great importance, and at the present time about half the soda consumed in the world is made by it. Whether it will eventually entirely supplant the Leblanc process cannot yet be stated. The chief advantage which it presents is that the amount of coal consumed by it is much smaller than that required by the older process, so that countries where fuel is not very cheap and abundant can now make their own soda, being no longer dependent on England, as they were in large degree before the Solvay process became successful. For the properties of pure soda, see sodium carbonate, under sodium. Also called mineral alkali.
2. n. Soda-water.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable Sodium carbonate.
2. n. uncountable Sodium in chemical combination.
3. n. uncountable Carbonated water (originally made with sodium bicarbonate).
4. n. US, uncountable Any carbonated (usually sweet) soft drink.
5. n. US, countable A glass, bottle or can of this drink.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Sodium oxide or hydroxide.
2. n. Popularly, sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. Sodium bicarbonate is also called baking soda
3. n. same as sodium, used in terms such as bicarbonate of soda.
4. n. same as soda water.
5. n. a non-alcoholic beverage, sweetened by various means, containing flavoring and supersaturated with carbon dioxide, so as to be effervescent when the container is opened; -- in different localities it is variously called also soda pop, pop, mineral water, and minerals. It has many variants. The sweetening agent may be natural, such as cane sugar or corn syrup, or artificial, such as saccharin or aspartame. The flavoring varies widely, popular variants being fruit or cola flavoring.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a sodium salt of carbonic acid; used in making soap powders and glass and paper
2. n. a sweet drink containing carbonated water and flavoring