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soak (sōk)
Share:
v. soaked, soak·ing, soaks
v.tr.
1.
a. To immerse in liquid for a period of time: Soak the beans in water before cooking.
b. To make thoroughly wet or saturated: I soaked the flowers with the hose. We got soaked by the rain.
2.
a. To absorb (liquid, for example) through pores or interstices: Use the bread to soak up the gravy.
b. To be exposed to: went to the beach to soak up the sun.
c. Informal To experience or take in mentally, especially eagerly and easily: soaked up the music scene.
3. To remove (a stain, for example) by continued immersion: soaked out the grease spots.
4. Informal
a. To drink (alcoholic liquor), especially to excess.
b. To make (a person) drunk.
5. Slang To charge (a person) an inordinate amount for something: people were getting soaked during the gas shortage.
v.intr.
1. To be immersed in liquid: The beans are soaking.
2.
a. To seep into or permeate something: Water soaked into the soil.
b. To be taken in mentally: The speaker paused to let her words soak in.
3. Slang To drink to excess.
n.
1. The act or process of soaking: had a long soak in the bath.
2. Liquid in which something may be soaked.
3. Slang A drunkard.
[Middle English soken, from Old English socian; see seuə-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
soaker n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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