Word for the day: salt

salt |sɔːlt, sɒlt|              *sal (in Spanish)




DEFINITION

noun
1 (also common salt ) [ mass noun ] a white crystalline substance which gives seawater its characteristic taste and is used for seasoning or preserving food.●Alternative name: sodium chloride; chem. formula: NaCl.•literary something which adds freshness or piquancy: he described danger as the salt of pleasure.2 Chemistry any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation.3 (usu. old salt) informal an experienced sailor.

PHRASES the salt of the earth a person or group of people of great kindness, reliability, or honesty[with biblical allusion to Matt 5:13.]sit below the salt be of lower social standing or worth.[from the former custom of placing a large salt cellar in the middle of a dining table with the host at one end.]take something with a pinch (or grain ) of salt regard something as exaggerated; believe only part of something: I take anything he says with a large pinch of salt.worth one's salt good or competent at the job or profession specified: any astrologer worth her salt would have predicted this.put salt on the tail of capture (with reference to jocular directions given to children for catching a bird).

ORIGIN

Old English sealt (noun), sealtan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zout andGerman Salz (nouns), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin sal,Greek hals ‘salt’.

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