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as a sop to the teachers' union for supporting his reelection campaign, the mayor promised to push for the abolition of the residency requirement
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sop.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The etymology of sop takes us from bread to hellhounds to bribery. The journey starts over 900 years ago, when sop first referred to bread soaked in water, wine, or another liquid. Such soggy bread was considered a treat sure to tempt any appetite. Sops were considered so appealing that English translations of Virgil's Aeneid tell of a sibyl using one soaked in honey to distract and drug Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of the gates of the underworld, so Aeneas could get by him safely. By the 1600s, that mythological use of sop had given rise to the expression give a sop to Cerberus, meaning "to bribe" and to using sop to refer to a bribe or conciliatory gift.
First Known Use: before 12th century
in the meaning defined at sense 1
See Words from the same yearincentive, incitement, instigation, motivation, provocation, spur, stimulation, stimulus;
boost, encouragement, goad, inducement;
allurement, bait, enticement, lure, seduction, temptation, turn-on;
sopped the sponge with the detergent and began scrubbing the floor vigorously
my book fell in the swimming pool and was thoroughly sopped before I could fish it out
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sop.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
circa 1529
bathe, bedraggle, douse (also dowse), drench, drown, soak, souse, wash, water, water-soak, waterlog, wet, wet down;
asperse, bedew, damp, dampen, drizzle, humidify, hydrate, mist, moisten, moisturize, shower, sprinkle;
deluge, flood, hose (down), inundate, overflow;
: something that is done or given to someone in order to prevent trouble, gain support, etc.
See words that rhyme with sop Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for sop Spanish Central: Translation of sop Nglish: Translation of sop for Spanish speakers
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