Soak

Soak

Verb & Noun · /səʊk/ · to make or become thoroughly wet; to absorb deeply

Definition

To soak is to make something thoroughly wet by immersing it in liquid, or to become thoroughly wet by being so immersed. Soak also means to absorb — a sponge soaks up water, dry ground soaks up rain, a student soaks up knowledge. As a noun, a soak is either the act of soaking — give the clothes a good soak — or a prolonged period of immersion — a long soak in the bath. The word's core quality is thoroughness and saturation: to soak is not to be slightly damp but to be completely penetrated by liquid. The figurative uses carry this same quality — to soak in an atmosphere is to absorb it completely, to be fully penetrated by a place or experience rather than merely present in it.

Origin

Soak comes from Old English socian, meaning to become saturated with liquid, from the same Germanic root as sock in the sense of a wet or soaked object. The word has been in continuous use in English since the Old English period. Its figurative uses — soaking up knowledge, soaking in the sun, soaking in an atmosphere — developed naturally by extension of the core idea of complete absorption. In informal British English, a soak also historically meant a habitual heavy drinker — someone who soaks themselves in alcohol — though this use is now dated and somewhat archaic.