Link Centre Dictionary

salt

UK/sɒlt/ US/sɔːlt/ common slang uk us
noun (4) adjective (3) verb (4)

noun

1.

a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)

2.
3.

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

Synonyms
4.

the taste experience when salt is taken into the mouth

Synonyms

adjective

1.

containing or filled with salt

  • “salt water”
Antonyms
Similar
2.

of speech that is painful or bitter

  • “salt scorn” Shakespeare
  • “a salt apology”
Similar
3.

one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of sea water

Synonyms
Similar

verb

1.

add salt to

2.

sprinkle as if with salt

  • “the rebels had salted the fields with mines and traps”
3.

add zest or liveliness to

  • “She salts her lectures with jokes”
4.

preserve with salt

  • “people used to salt meats on ships”

Origin

PIE word *sḗh₂l From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l (“salt”). Doublet of sal, salary, and salsa, all ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt". Cognate with Dutch zout, German Salz, Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish salt.

Phrases

  • add salt to injury
  • black salt
  • bread and salt
  • cerebral salt-wasting syndrome
  • kitchen salt
  • lay salt on someone's tail
  • old salt
  • pepper and salt
  • salt away
  • salt down
  • salt out
  • salt spray

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.