soap 
soap (sop), n. [Early moil. E. also .in/x ; < ME. 
SOpC, fiixi/ir, nil jlf. < AS. xli/if = M l>. .vr/ic. I i 
= MLG. *<7", L(i. ./;<> = OHG. sc//', m-i/ihn, 
scipfa, soap, MHG. G. seifc, G. dial. //>/> = 
Icel. s<y< = Sw. s#j> = Dan. s6c (Icel.. etc., 
< AS.), soap; cf. L. sapo, pomade 
the hair (Pliny: see def. 2), LL. ML. soap (> 
Or. adiruv = It. Kd/ioitc = Sp.jaboii = Pg. xnliuo 
= Pr. sabo = F. yttron (> Turk, nabun) = W. se- 
boit = Ir. giabunn = Gael, siopunn, soap), prob. 
< Teut., the true L. cognate being prob. sebum, 
tallow, grease (see sebum, sebaceous). Cf. Finn. 
saippio, < Teut. The word, if orig. Teut., is 
prob. identical with AS. sap = OHG. scifa, 
resin, and connected with AS. *sipim. ,/. 
LG. sipen, MHG. sifeti, trickle, and perhaps with 
AS. sxp, etc., sap: see seep, sipe, yi.] 1. A 
chemical compound in common domestic use 
for washing and cleansing, made by the union 
of certain fatty acids with a salifiable base. 
Fats and fixed oils consist of fatty acids combined with 
glycerin. On treating them with a strong base, like pot- 
ash or soda, glycerin is set free, and the fatty acid com- 
bines with the strong base and forms a soap. Soap is of 
two kinds soluble soap, in which the base is potash, soda, 
or ammonia, and insoluble soap, whose base is an earth or 
a metallic oxid. Only the soluble soaps dissolve readily 
in water and have detergent qualities. Insoluble soaps 
are used only in pharmacy for liniments or plasters. Of 
the fats, stearates make the hardest, oleates the softest 
soaps ; and of the bases, soda makes the hardest and least 
soluble, and potash the softest and most soluble. Per- 
fumes are occasionally added, or various coloring matters 
are stirred in while the soap is semi-fluid. White soaps 
are generally made of olive-oil and soda. Common house- 
hold soaps are made chiefly of soda and tallow. Yellow 
soap is composed of tallow, rosin, and soda, to which some 
palm-oil is occasionally added. (See rosin-soap.) Mottled 
soap is made by simply adding mineral and other colors 
during the manufacture of ordinary hard soap. Marine 
soap, known as salt-water soap, which has the property 
of dissolving as well in salt water as in fresh, is made of 
palm- or cocoanut oil and soda. Soft soaps are made 
with potash, instead of soda, and whale-, seal-, or olive-oil, 
or the oils of linseed, hemp-seed, rape-secxi, etc., with the 
addition of a little tallow. Excellent soaps are made from 
palm-oil and soda. A solution of soap in alcohol, with 
camphor and a little essential oil added to scent it, forms 
a soft ointment called opodeldoc, now superseded by soap- 
liniment, a similar preparation, which is liquid Medi- 
cinal soap, when pure, is prepared from caustic soda and 
either olive- or almond-oil. It is chiefly employed to form 
pills of a gently aperient antacid action. 
2f. A kind of pomade for coloring the hair. 
[Only as a translation of the Latin.] 3. 
Smooth words; persuasion; flattery: more of- 
ten called soft soap. [Slang.] 
He and I are great chums, and a little soft soap will go 
a long way with him. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, xxxiii. (Danies.) 
4. Money secretly used for political purposes. 
[Political slang, U. S.] 
Soap. Originally used by the Republican managers dur- 
ing the campaign of 1880, as the cipher for " money " in 
their telegraphic dispatches. In 1884 it was revived as a 
derisive war cry aimed at the Republicans by their oppo- 
nents. Hag. of Amer. Hist., XIII. 34. 
Almond-oil soap, a soap made of sodium hydrate and 
almond oil. Also called amyijdaline soap. Arsenical 
soap, a saponaceous preparation used in taxidermy to 
preserve skins from natural decay and from the attacks 
of insects. There are many kinds, all alike consisting in 
the impregnation of some kind of soap with arsenious acid 
or commercial arsenic. Beef S-marrow soap, a soap of 
soda and animal oil. Boiled soap. Same as grained 
soap. Bone soap, a soap made from cocoanut-oil mixed 
with jelly from bones. Butter soap, soap made from 
soda and butter ; sapo butyricus. Calcium soap, a soap 
made either directly by saponifying fat with hydrate of 
lime, or by treating soluble soap with a solution of a salt 
of lime. It is used in the manufacture of stearin wax. 
Carbolic soap, a disinfectant soap containing 1 part of 
carbolic acid to 9 parts of soap. Castile soap, a hard 
soap composed of soda and olive-oil, of two varieties : (1) 
white Castile soap, which contains 21 per cent of water, is 
of a pale grayish-white color, giving no oily stains to pa- 
per, free from rancid odor, and entirely soluble in alcohol 
or water ; and (2) marbled Castile soap, which is harder and 
more alkaline, contains 14 per cent, of water, and has veins 
or streaks of ferruginous matter running through it. 
Formerly also, erroneously, castle-soap; also Spanish soap. 
Roll but with your eyes 
And foam at the mouth. A little castle-soap 
Will do 't, to rub your lips. 
B. Jonson, Devil Is an Ass, v. 8. 
Curd soa 
fat coni ' 
used in 
5741 
potash lye and c.live-oil or fats rich in oleic acid. (6) See 
def. 3. -Spanish soap. - ' map. 
Some may present thee with a pcninde or twalne 
(if Si'Hinshr xnape to washe thy Ij until white. 
inirell lo Master \Vithipoll. 
Starkey's soap, a soap made by triturating equal parts 
of potassium carbonate, oil of turpentine, and Venin 
tin pentine. Transparent soap, n soap made of soda 
and kidney-fat, dried, then dissolved in ak-ohol, Illtrml, 
and evaporated in molds. Venice soap, a mottled soap 
made of olive-oil and soda, with a small quantity <if 
iron or zinc sulphate in solution. Simmonds. Windsor 
soap, a scented soap made of soda with olive-oil 1 pai I 
and tallow parts.- Zinc soap, a soap obtained by the 
double decomposition of zinc sulphate and noap, or by 
saponifying zinc white with olive-oil or fat. It is used as 
an oil-color, as an ointment, and as zinc plaster. 
soap (sop ), r. t. [< snap, M.] 1. To rub or treat 
with soap; apply soap to. 
Bella soaped his face and rubbed his face, ami soaped 
his hands and rubbed his hands, and splashed him and 
rinsed him and toweled him, until he was as red as beet- 
root. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iv. 5. 
2. To use smooth words to ; flatter. [Slang.] 
These Dear Jacks soap the people shameful, but we 
Cheap Jacks don't. We tell 'em the truth about them- 
selves to their faces, and scorn to court 'em. 
Dickens, Doctor Marigold. 
soap-apple (sop'ap'l), . Same as soap-plant. 
soap-ashes (sop'ash'ez), n.pl. Ashes contain- 
ing lye or potash, and thus useful in making 
soap. 
So drugs and sweet woods, where they are, cannot bat 
yield great profit ; soap ashes likewise, and other things 
that may be thought of. Bacon, Plantations (ed. 1887). 
soap-balls (sop'balz), n. pi. Balled soap, made 
by dissolving a soap in a little hot water, mix- 
ing it with starch, and then molding the mix- 
ture into balls. The starch acts upon the skin 
as an emollient. 
soap-bark, soap-bark tree (sop'biirk, -tre). 
See quilltii and I'itliecolobiiim. 
soap-beck (sop'bek), . In a dye-house, a ves- 
sel filled with a solution of soap in water. 
soapberry (sop'ber"i), n. ; pi. soapberries (-iz). 
The fruit of one of several species of Sapitulu*; 
also, any of the trees producing it, and, by ex- 
tension, any member of the genus. The fruit of 
the proper soapberries so abounds in saponln as to serve 
the purpose of soap. That of S. Saponaria, a small tree 
of South America, the West Indies, and Florida, is much 
used in the West Indies for cleansing linen, etc., and is 
said to he extremely efficacious, though with frequent use 
deleterious to the fabric. Its roots also contain saponin. 
Its hard black seeds are made up into rosaries and neck- 
laces, and sometimes have been used as buttons. In the 
East Indies the fruit of S. trtfoliatus appears to have been 
used as a detergent from remote times. The pulp is re- 
garded also as astringent, anthelmintic, and tonic, and 
the seeds yield a medicinal oil. The wood is made into 
combs and other small articles. This species is some- 
times called Iiidian filbert, translating the Mohammedan 
name. S. (Dittelasma} Rarak, of Cochin-China, etc., has 
also a detergent property. The wood of S. acuminatus (S. 
marginatus). of the southern United States, etc., is hard 
and strong, easily split into strips, and in the southwest 
much used for making cotton-baskets and the frames of 
pack-saddles. Its berries are reddish- brown, of the size of 
a cherry, with a soapy pulp. Also called itrild china-tree 
(which see, under china-tree). The fruit of some species 
yields an edible pulp, though the seed is poisonous. An- 
other name, especially of & trifoliatus, is soapnut. 
soap-boiler (sop'boi'ler), . 1. A maker of 
soap. 
The new company of gentlemen soapboilers have pro- 
cured Mrs. Sanderson, the Queen's laundress, to subscribe 
to the goodness of the new soap. 
Court and Times of Charles I., II. 230. 
2. That in which soap is boiled or made; a 
soap-pan. Imp. Diet. 
soap-boiling (sop'boi"ling), n. The business 
of boiling or manufacturing soap. 
soap-bubble (sop'bub'l), . A bubble formed 
from soapy water; especially, a thin spherical 
film of soap-suds inflated by blowing through 
a pipe, and forming a hollow globe which has 
often beautiful iridescent colors playing over 
the surface. 
One afternoon he was seized with an irresistible desire 
to blow soap-bubbles. . . . Behold him, therefore, at the 
arched window, with an earthen pipe in his mouth ! . . . 
Behold him scattering airy spheres abroad, from the win- 
dow into the street. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xi. 
rd soap, soap made from soda and a purified animal v,,,i>, /orm'hiilM ti 
consisting largely of stearin. -Fulling-soap, a soap SOap-DUlD (sop tmlD), _ji bame as soap-plant. 
d in fulling cloth composed of 124 parts of soap, 54 of soap-cerate (sop se'rat), . An ointment com- 
posed of soap-plaster (2 parts), yellow wax (3i 
parts), and olive-oil (4 parts). 
soap-coil (sop'koil), H. A coiled pipe fitted to 
the inside of a soap-boiling kettle, through 
which hot steam is circulated to boil the con- 
tents of the kettle. 
soap-crutch (sop'kruch), n. A staff or rod 
with a crosspiece at one end, formerly used 
in crutching or stirring soap, 
soap-crutching (sop'knichlng), n. The pro- 
cess of crushing or stirring soap in kettles. 
Soap-crutching machine, an apparatus formixing soap. 
colored by indigo, and used in the treamen o eczema an 
other cutaneous diseases. Gum soap, a soap prepared 
from potash and fixed oils. Marine soap. See def. 1. 
Olive-Oil soda-soap. Same as Castile soap. QuiCksil- 
Ulive-Oll soda-soap. OHOIB us i>n vi*//. t/uiunau- 
ver soapt. See quicksilver plaster, under quicksilver. 
Lse : o caiieu ueeause 11 uuco uvt IKUWHH mtv *,n.**.a, .... 
mains semi-fluid or ropy. The softest soap is made from 
soap-pod 
It consists of a vertical cylinder in whirh are numerous 
spiral wings and an upright bhaft "ith nidial :i 
whirh a !>! 
When the tank is tilled with so:ip, tl" 
like screws, ranyini: up the hea\ i,-r part nt th>' m .' 
toward the top, ami thoi oii^hly iiiteniiixitiK the \\ i 
soap-earth t M ipvrt h i. //. Soapotone or steatite. 
soap-engine (sop'en"jiu), . A machine upmi 
winch slabs of soup arc piled to be crosscut 
into bars. H'mli . 
soaper (so'per), . [Early mod. E. also ft 
< ME. xoparc; < soap + -fi-i.] A soap-maker; 
a dealer in soap. [Obsolete or provincial.] 
Sopers and here sones for seiner ban be knyghtes. 
Pier* 1 i, vi. 72. 
soap-fat (sop'fiit), n. Fatty refuse laid aside 
for use in tlio making of soap. 
soap-fish (sop'fish), . A serranoid flsli of the 
genus Khypticus (or Promicropterus) : so called 
from the soapy skin. Several are found along the 
Atlantic coast of the United States, as It. maculatut, Jt. 
ttecoratus, and It. pituitosus. See cut under Rhypticut. 
soap-frame (sop'fratn), . A series of square 
frames locked together, designed to hold soap 
while solidifying, preparatory to its being cut 
into bars or cakes. 
The interior width of noap-framfs corresponds to the 
length of a bar of soap, and the length of a frame is equal 
to the thickness of about tweuty bars of soap. 
Watt, Soap-making, p. 20. 
soap-glue (s6p'glo),w. A gelatinous mass re- 
sulting from the boiling together of tallow and 
lye. 
soap-house (sop'hons), n. A house or building 
in which soap is made. 
soapiness (so'pi-nes), n. The state or quality 
of being soapy. Bailey, 1727. 
soap-kettle (sop'ket'l), . A soap-boiler. 
soapless (sop'les), a. [< soap + -?e*.] Lack- 
ing soap ; free from soap ; hence, unwashed. 
He accepted the offered hand of his new friend, which 
. . . was of a marvellously dingy and soapiest aspect. 
Bulwer, Pelham, xlix. 
soap-liniment (86p'lin ; "i-ment), . A liniment 
composed of soap (10 parts), camphor (5), oil 
of rosemary (1), alcohol (70), and water (14): 
an anodyne and nibefacient embrocation. 
soap-lock (sop'lok), . A lock of hair worn 
on the temple and kept smoothly in place by 
being soaped; hence, any lock brushed apart 
from the rest of the hair, and carefully kept 
in position. [U. S.] 
As he stepped from the cars he ... brushed his soap- 
locki forward with his hand. The Century, XXXVI. 248. 
soap-maker (s6p'ma"ker), n. A manufacturer 
of soap. 
Soap-making (s6p'ma"king), . The manufac- 
ture of soap; soap-boiling. 
soap-mill (sop'mil), . 1. A machine for cut- 
ting soap into thin shavings, preparatory to 
drying it, and as a step toward fitting it for 
grinding. 2. A mill for grinding dry soap, in 
the manufacture of bath-soap and other soap 
powders. 
soapnut (sop'nut), )i. 1. Same as soapberry. 
2. The fruit of an East Indian climbing shrub, 
Acacia conciiina ; also, the plant itself . The long 
flat pods have a saponaceous property, and are much used 
in Bombay as a detergent, especially in a wash for the 
head. They are also used as a deobstruent and expecto- 
rant and in jaundice. Also soap-pod. 
soap-pan (sop'pan), n. In the manufacture of 
soap, a large pan or vessel, generally of cast- 
iron, in which the ingredients are boiled to the 
desired consistence. 
The soap-pan or copper (or, as the French and Anieri 
cans term it, kettle) is sometimes made of cast-iron, in 
several divisions, united together by iron cement. 
Watt, Soap-making, p. 17. 
soap-plant (sop'plant), . One of several 
plants whose bulbs serve the purpose of soap : 
particularly, the Californian Ctilnrogaliim piimt- 
ridiamon, of the lily family. It is a stout brown- 
ish plant, from 1 to 3 feet high, with long linear leaves 
and a spreading panicle of white flowers. The bulb, 
which is from 1 to 4 inches thick, when divested of its 
coat of dark-brown fibers, produces, if rubbed on wet 
cloth, a thick lather, and is often substituted for soap. 
Also called soap-apple and taapJmlb, and, together with 
some plants of a similar property, by the Mexican name 
amole. Zyyadenus Fremontit, also Californian, Is another 
soap-plant. Indian soap-plant, a name ascribed to the 
soapberry Sapiiulu* acuminatus, and to the CMornyalutii. 
soap-plaster (sop'plas'ter), . A plaster com- 
posed of curd soap (10 ounces), yellow wax (124 
ounces), olive-oil (1 pint), oxid of lead (15 
ounces), and vinegar (1 gallon). 
soap-pod (sop'pod), n. 1. One of the legumes 
of several Chinese species of drsalpiniti ; also, 
the plant itself. The legumes are saponaceous, 
and are employed by the Chinese as a substi- 
tute for soap. 2. Same as soapnut, 2. 
