Definitions

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

  • noun A liquid food prepared from meat, fish, or vegetable stock combined with various other ingredients and often containing solid pieces.
  • noun Slang Something having the appearance or a consistency suggestive of soup, especially.
  • noun Dense fog.
  • noun Nitroglycerine.
  • noun Primordial soup.
  • noun A chaotic or unfortunate situation.
  • idiom (in the soup) Having difficulties; in trouble.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An obsolete form of soop, swoop.
  • noun An obsolete or dialectal form of sup.
  • noun In cookery, originally, a liquor with something soaked in it, as a sop of bread; now, a broth; a liquid dish served usually before fish or meat at dinner.
  • noun A kind of picnic in which a great pot of soup is the principal feature. Compare the like use of chowder.

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

  • transitive verb obsolete To breathe out.
  • noun A liquid food of many kinds, usually made by boiling meat and vegetables, or either of them, in water, -- commonly seasoned or flavored; strong broth.
  • noun an establishment for preparing and supplying soup to the poor.
  • noun a ticket conferring the privilege of receiving soup at a soup kitchen.
  • transitive verb obsolete To sup or swallow.
  • transitive verb obsolete To sweep. See sweep, and swoop.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of various dishes commonly made by combining liquids, such as water or stock with other ingredients, such as meat and vegetables, that contribute flavor and texture.
  • noun figuratively Any mixture or substance suggestive of soup consistency.
  • verb uncommon To feed: to provide with soup or a meal.
  • verb To be in trouble or in difficulty (often passive--cf. in the soup).
  • verb photography To develop (film) in a (chemical) developing solution.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb dope (a racehorse)
  • noun an unfortunate situation
  • noun any composition having a consistency suggestive of soup
  • noun liquid food especially of meat or fish or vegetable stock often containing pieces of solid food

Etymologies

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

[Middle English soupe, from Old French, of Germanic origin; see seuə- in Indo-European roots. Soup up, from soup, material injected into a horse to make it run faster (influenced by supercharge).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

(1645) Middle French soupe, from Old French souppe, sope, from Late Latin suppa ("sopped bread"), from Proto-Germanic *supô (compare Middle Dutch sope ("broth"). See also sop.

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Examples

  • This he found on inquiry was the soup-kettle of a corps of Janissaries, and always held in high respect; indeed, so distinguishing a characteristic of this body is their _soup_, that their colonel is called Tchorbadgé, or the distributor of soup.

    The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 405, December 19, 1829 Various

  • The faint outline of the word soup ghosted across a sooty wall.

    Let The Dead Lie Malla Nunn 2010

  • The faint outline of the word soup ghosted across a sooty wall.

    Let The Dead Lie Malla Nunn 2010

  • Unum offers a clear guide to the acronym soup of consumer-directed health plans "This Is All About the Money": Pension Fund 'Crisis' a Red Herring, Union Chief Says

    unknown title 2011

  • Unum offers a clear guide to the acronym soup of consumer-directed health plans "This Is All About the Money": Pension Fund 'Crisis' a Red Herring, Union Chief Says

    unknown title 2011

  • Unum offers a clear guide to the acronym soup of consumer-directed health plans "This Is All About the Money": Pension Fund 'Crisis' a Red Herring, Union Chief Says

    unknown title 2011

  • Unum offers a clear guide to the acronym soup of consumer-directed health plans "This Is All About the Money": Pension Fund 'Crisis' a Red Herring, Union Chief Says

    unknown title 2011

  • Unum offers a clear guide to the acronym soup of consumer-directed health plans "This Is All About the Money": Pension Fund 'Crisis' a Red Herring, Union Chief Says

    unknown title 2011

  • Ever get an SMS and have absolutely no idea what the acronym soup is supposed to impart?

    DTXTR Deciphers SMS Shorthand | Lifehacker Australia 2009

  • One word of caution – this soup is a bit heavy on the onions so beware and pick up some mints if you have an after lunch meeting planned.

    Maine Lobster Gazpacho is Back at the Oyster Bar! | Midtown Lunch - Finding Lunch in the Food Wasteland of NYC's Midtown Manhattan 2010

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