Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense soaps, present participle soaping, past tense, past participle soaped
1. variable noun
Soap is a substance that you use with water for washing yourself or sometimes for washing clothes.
...a bar of lavender soap.
...a large packet of soap powder.
...a soap bubble.
2. verb
If you soapyourself, you rub soap on your body in order to wash yourself.
She soaped herself all over. [VERB pronoun-reflexive]
3. countable noun
A soap is the same as a soap opera.
[informal]
soap in British English
(səʊp)
noun
1.
a cleaning or emulsifying agent made by reacting animal or vegetable fats or oils with potassium or sodium hydroxide. Soaps often contain colouring matter and perfume and act by emulsifying grease and lowering the surface tension of water, so that it more readily penetrates open materials such as textiles
See also detergent ▶ Related adjective: saponaceous
2.
any metallic salt of a fatty acid, such as palmitic or stearic acid
See also metallic soap
3. slang
flattery or persuasive talk (esp in the phrase soft soap)
4. informal short for soap opera
5. US and Canadian slang
money, esp for bribery
6. no soap
verb
7. (transitive)
to apply soap to
8. (transitive; often foll byup) slang
a.
to flatter or talk persuasively to
b. US and Canadian
to bribe
Derived forms
soapless (ˈsoapless)
adjective
soaplike (ˈsoapˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
Old English sāpe; related to Old High German seipfa, Old French savon, Latin sāpō
soap in American English
(soʊp)
noun
1.
a substance used with water to produce suds for washing or cleaning: soaps are usuallysodium or potassium salts of fatty acids, produced by the action of an alkali, as caustic soda or potash, on fats or oils
2.
any metallic salt of a fatty acid
3. US, Slang
soap opera
: also ˈsoaper
verb transitive
4.
to lather, scrub, etc. with soap
Idioms:
no soap
Word origin
ME sope < OE sape, akin to Ger seife < Gmc *saipo- < IE base *seib-, to trickle, run out > L sebum, tallow
soap in Hospitality
(soʊp)
noun
(Hospitality (hotel): Hotel room, bathroom)
Soap is a substance that you use with water for washing yourself or sometimes for washingclothes.
COLLOCATIONS: bar of ~
A bar of soap and two towels were left beside the bath.
Do the bathrooms have shampoo and soap?
The maids put fresh soap in the bathrooms each day.
Increased use of soaps and shower gels can kill off good bacteria.
The Sun (2007)
It uses the building of an imposing railway viaduct as the backdrop for a period soap opera.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Leave for a few days and then use as a soft soap.
Guyton, Anita The Natural Beauty Book - cruelty-free cosmetics to make at home (1991)
It is used to perfume soaps and other bath preparations.
Guyton, Anita The Natural Beauty Book - cruelty-free cosmetics to make at home (1991)
This process is worsened by washing with soap.
The Sun (2009)
Choosing a football club is not like choosing a soap powder or a brand of razor.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
All three used lavender soap or tea tree shampoo.
The Sun (2007)
And if they swore their mouths were washed with soap.
The Sun (2012)
If she had a daughter would she be happy for her to join a soap at an early age?
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Which soap uses all nine letters?
The Sun (2014)
The plot has been billed as the best pulled off by the BBC1 soap.
The Sun (2015)
The scenes will be shown in a forthcoming episode of the ITV1 soap.
The Sun (2012)
Like all soap operas, not much of it rings true.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
He has a point to make, once we get past the soft soap.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Simple was originally the name of a bar of soap containing no perfume, colour or additives.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The episode is expected to screen on the BBC1 soap next month.
The Sun (2012)
The family were introduced to the ITV1 soap only last year.
The Sun (2008)
In fact, this is the basis for the success of all serial soap operas.
O'Keeffe, John Your One Week Way to Mind-Fitness (1994)
A lengthy berth in a soap opera removes all that.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
They take it off other people, and then they empty the packets and replace it with soap powder.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Their report found that soaps contained on average SEVEN drinking scenes per hour.
The Sun (2007)
She didn't like soap, so clothes just stewed in the bath.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The next thing I did was to wash some clothes in pure soap and within three days there was scarcely a sore in sight.
Orton, Christine Eczema Relief - the comprehensive self-help plan (1990)
In other languages
soap
British English: soap /səʊp/ NOUN
Soap is a substance that you use with water for washing yourself or sometimes for washing clothes.
...a bar of lavender soap.
American English: soap
Arabic: صَابُون
Brazilian Portuguese: sabão
Chinese: 肥皂
Croatian: sapun
Czech: mýdlo
Danish: sæbe
Dutch: zeep
European Spanish: jabón
Finnish: saippua
French: savon
German: Seife
Greek: σαπούνι
Italian: sapone
Japanese: 石鹸
Korean: 비누
Norwegian: såpe
Polish: mydło
European Portuguese: sabão
Romanian: săpun
Russian: мыло
Latin American Spanish: jabón
Swedish: tvål
Thai: สบู่
Turkish: sabun
Ukrainian: мило
Vietnamese: xà phòng
All related terms of 'soap'
no soap
said to mean that you have tried to do something but that you have failed
dish soap
a detergent added to dishwater in order to clean dishes
docu-soap
a television documentary series in which the lives of the people filmed are presented as entertainment or drama
Joe Soap
a person who is regarded as unintelligent and imposed upon as a stooge or scapegoat
soap dish
a dish designed to hold a bar of soap , esp. as a bathroom or kitchen fixture attached to a sink , lavatory , or bathtub
soft soap
If you soft-soap someone, you flatter them or tell them what you think they want to hear in order to try and persuade them to do something.
green soap
a soft or liquid alkaline soap made from vegetable oils , used in treating certain chronic skin diseases
saddle soap
a soft soap containing neat's-foot oil used to preserve and clean leather
soap boiler
a manufacturer of soap
soap bubble
a bubble formed from soapy water
soap flakes
small flakes or chips of soap commercially produced and packaged for washing laundry , dishes, etc
soap opera
A soap opera is a popular television drama series about the daily lives and problems of a group of people who live in a particular place.
soap plant
any of various plants some parts of which can be used as soap ; esp., a tall W North American plant ( Chlorogalum pomeridianum ) of the lily family
soap powder
soap or detergent in a powdered form used for washing clothes
sugar soap
an alkaline compound used for cleaning or stripping paint
toilet soap
a mild soap , often coloured and scented , used for washing oneself
yellow soap
old-fashioned all-purpose soap
carbolic soap
a disinfectant soap containing phenol
Castile soap
a hard soap made from olive oil and sodium hydroxide
kitchen soap
heavy-duty soap intended for use in the kitchen
metallic soap
any one of a number of colloidal stearates , palmitates , or oleates of various metals, including aluminium , calcium , magnesium , iron, and zinc . They are used as bases for ointments , fungicides , fireproofing and waterproofing agents, and dryers for paints and varnishes
shaving soap
a small bar of soap containing fatty acids which produces a thick lather that you put on your face or body before removing hair with a razor
household soap
a substance that you use with water for washing clothes, removing stains , cleaning floors , etc
soap character
The characters in a film, book, or play are the people that it is about.
cationic detergent
a type of detergent in which the active part of the molecule is a positive ion ( cation ). Cationic detergents are usually quaternary ammonium salts and often also have bactericidal properties
soapie
a serialized drama , usually dealing with domestic themes and characterized by sentimentality , broadcast on radio or television