salt Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)
  2. noun white crystalline form of especially sodium chloride used to season and preserve food
    common salt; table salt.
  3. noun negotiations between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics opened in 1969 in Helsinki designed to limit both countries' stock of nuclear weapons
    Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
  4. noun the taste experience when common salt is taken into the mouth
    saltiness; salinity.
  5. verb add salt to
  6. verb sprinkle as if with salt
    • the rebels had salted the fields with mines and traps
  7. verb add zest or liveliness to
    • She salts her lectures with jokes
  8. verb preserve with salt
    • people used to salt meats on ships
  9. adjective satellite (of speech) painful or bitter
    • salt scorn"- Shakespeare
    • a salt apology

WordNet

Salt noun
Etymology
AS. sealt; akin to OS. & OFries. salt, D. zout, G. salz, Icel., Sw., & Dan. salt, L. sal, Gr. , Russ. sole, Ir. & Gael. salann, W. halen, of unknown origin. Cf. Sal, Salad, Salary, Saline, Sauce, Sausage.
Definitions
  1. The chloride of sodium, a substance used for seasoning food, for the preservation of meat, etc. It is found native in the earth, and is also produced, by evaporation and crystallization, from sea water and other water impregnated with saline particles.
  2. Hence, flavor; taste; savor; smack; seasoning.
    Though we are justices and doctors and churchmen . . . we have some salt of our youth in us. Shak.
  3. Hence, also, piquancy; wit; sense; as, Attic salt.
  4. A dish for salt at table; a saltcellar.
    I out and bought some things; among others, a dozen of silver salts. Pepys.
  5. A sailor; -- usually qualified by old. Colloq.
    Around the door are generally to be seen, laughing and gossiping, clusters of old salts. Hawthorne.
  6. (Chem.) The neutral compound formed by the union of an acid base; thus, sulphuric acid and iron form the salt sulphate of iron or green vitriol. ✍ Except in case of ammonium salts, accurately speaking, it is the acid radical which unites with the base or basic radical, with the elimination of hydrogen, of water, or of analogous compounds as side products. In the case of diacid and triacid bases, and of dibasic and tribasic acids, the mutual neutralization may vary in degree, producing respectively basic, neutral, or acid salts See Phrases below.
  7. Fig.: That which preserves from corruption or error; that which purifies; a corrective; an antiseptic; also, an allowance or deduction; as, his statements must be taken with a grain of salt.
    Ye are the salt of the earth. Matt. v. 13.
  8. pl. Any mineral salt used as an aperient or cathartic, especially Epsom salts, Rochelle salt, or Glauber's salt.
  9. pl. Marches flooded by the tide. Prov. Eng.
Salt adjective
Etymology
AS. sealt, salt. See Salt, n.
Wordforms
comparative Salter ; superlative Saltest
Definitions
  1. Of or relating to salt; abounding in, or containing, salt; prepared or preserved with, or tasting of, salt; salted; as, salt beef; salt water. "Salt tears." Chaucer.
  2. Overflowed with, or growing in, salt water; as, a salt marsh; salt grass.
  3. Fig.: Bitter; sharp; pungent.
    I have a salt and sorry rheum offends me. Shak.
  4. Fig.: Salacious; lecherous; lustful. Shak.
Salt transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Salted; present participle & verbal noun Salting
Definitions
  1. To sprinkle, impregnate, or season with salt; to preserve with salt or in brine; to supply with salt; as, to salt fish, beef, or pork; to salt cattle.
  2. To fill with salt between the timbers and planks, as a ship, for the preservation of the timber.
Salt intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To deposit salt as a saline solution; as, the brine begins to salt.
Salt noun
Etymology
L. saltus, fr. salire to leap.
Definitions
  1. The act of leaping or jumping; a leap. Obs. B. Jonson.

Webster 1913