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Webster 1913 Edition

Souse

{

Sous

,

Souse

}
(F. soō; colloq. Eng. sous)
,
Noun.
A corrupt form of Sou.
[Obs.]
Colman, the Elder.

Souse

,
Noun.
[OF.
sausse
. See
Sauce
.]
[Written also
souce
,
sowce
, and
sowse
.]
1.
Pickle made with salt.
2.
Something kept or steeped in pickle; esp., the pickled ears, feet, etc., of swine.
And he that can rear up a pig in his house,
Hath cheaper his bacon, and sweeter his
souse
.
Tusser.
3.
The ear; especially, a hog’s ear.
[Prov. Eng.]
4.
The act of sousing; a plunging into water.

Souse

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Soused
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Sousing
.]
[Cf. F.
saucer
to wet with sauce. See
Souse
pickle.]
1.
To steep in pickle; to pickle.
“A soused gurnet.”
Shak.
2.
To plunge or immerse in water or any liquid.
They
soused
me over head and ears in water.
Addison.
3.
To drench, as by an immersion; to wet throughly.
Although I be well
soused
in this shower.
Gascoigne.

Souse

,
Verb.
I.
[Probably fr. OF.
sors
, p. p. of
sordre
to rise, and first used of an upward swood, then of a swoop in general, but also confused with
Souse
,
Verb.
T.
See
Source
.]
To swoop or plunge, as a bird upon its prey; to fall suddenly; to rush with speed; to make a sudden attack.
For then I viewed his plunge and
souse

Into the foamy main.
Marston.
Jove's bird will
souse
upon the timorous hare.
J. Dryden. Jr.

Souse

,
Verb.
T.
To pounce upon.
[R.]
[The gallant monarch] like eagle o'er his serie towers,
To
souse
annoyance that comes near his nest.
Shakespeare

Souse

,
Noun.
The act of sousing, or swooping.
As a falcon fair
That once hath failed or her
souse
full near.
Spenser.

Souse

,
adv.
With a sudden swoop; violently.
Young.

Webster 1828 Edition

Souse

SOUSE

, n.
1.
Pickle made with salt.
2.
Something kept or steeped on pickle.
3.
The ears, feet, &c. of swine. [America.]

SOUSE

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To steep in pickle. But souse the cabbage with a bounteous heart.
2.
To plunge into water. They soused me into the Thames, with as little remorse as they drown blind puppies.

SOUSE

,
Verb.
I.
[See Soss. This word is probably the same as the preceding, to plunge, to dip; I believe from the Armoric.] To fall suddenly on; to rush with speed; as a hawk on its prey. Jove's bird will souse upon the tim'rous hare.

SOUSE

,
Verb.
T.
To strike with sudden violence.

SOUSE

,
adv.
With sudden violence. [This word is low and vulgar.]

Definition 2024

souse

souse

English

Noun

souse ‎(plural souses)

  1. Something kept or steeped in brine
    1. The pickled ears, feet, etc., of swine.
      • (Can we date this quote?) Tusser
        And he that can rear up a pig in his house, / Hath cheaper his bacon, and sweeter his souse.
      1. (US, Appalachia) Pickled scrapple.
      2. (Caribbean) Pickled or boiled ears and feet of a pig
    2. A pickle made with salt.
    3. The ear; especially, a hog's ear.
  2. The act of sousing; a plunging into water.
  3. A person suffering from the disease of alcoholism.
See also

Verb

souse ‎(third-person singular simple present souses, present participle sousing, simple past and past participle soused)

  1. To immerse in liquid; to steep or drench.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Addison
      They soused me over head and ears in water.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Gascoigne
      although I be well soused in this shower
    • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 2
      As she heard him sousing heartily in cold water, heard the eager scratch of the steel comb on the side of the bowl, as he wetted his hair, she closed her eyes in disgust.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Obscure origin. Compare Middle German sûs (noise).

Noun

souse ‎(plural souses)

  1. The act of sousing, or swooping.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Spenser
      As a falcon fair / That once hath failed or her souse full near.
  2. A heavy blow.
    • 1596, Spencer, Fairie Queene
      His murdrous mace he vp did reare, That seemed nought the souse thereof could beare.

Verb

souse ‎(third-person singular simple present souses, present participle sousing, simple past and past participle soused)

  1. (now dialectal, transitive) to strike, beat
  2. (now dialectal, intransitive) to fall heavily
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:
      Him so transfixed she before her bore / Beyond his croupe, the length of all her launce; / Till, sadly soucing on the sandy shore, / He tombled on an heape, and wallowd in his gore.
    • (Can we date this quote?) J. Dryden. Jr.
      Jove's bird will souse upon the tim'rous hare.
  3. (obsolete, transitive) to pounce upon
    • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
      [The gallant monarch] like eagle o'er his serie towers, / To souse annoyance that comes near his nest.

Etymology 3

Borrowing from Old French sous (plural of sout).

Noun

souse

  1. (obsolete) sou (the French coin)
  2. (dated) A small amount

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English souse ‎(“to salt pickle”) also a noun "liquid for pickling" and "pickled pig parts", from Old French sous ‎(“preserved in salt”), from Frankish *sultija ‎(“saltwater, brine”), from Proto-Germanic *sultijō ‎(“saltwater, brine”). Cognate with Old Saxon sultia ‎(“saltwater”), Old High German sulza ‎(“brine”).

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -aʊs

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