soakyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
soak: [OE] Soak and suck come from the same ultimate source, the prehistoric Germanic base *suk-. It appears to have been a fairly late Germanic formation, for its only known immediate relative is West Frisian soken or zoken ‘soak’.
=> suck
soapyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
soap: [OE] The word soap is of West Germanic origin. It comes from a prehistoric *saipō (source also of German seife and Dutch zeep). This may have been related to Old English sīpian ‘drip’, suggesting that it perhaps originally referred to a stage in the manufacture of soap. The Romans, like the Greeks, used oil for cleansing the skin, not soap, and so they did not have their own native word for it. Instead they borrowed the Germanic term, as sāpō, which has evolved into French savon, Italian sapone, and Spanish jabon. Germanic *saipō was also acquired by Latvian (ziepes), Finnish (saippio), and Lappish (saipo).
soap operayoudaoicibaDictYouDict
soap opera: [20] The original soap operas were a radio phenomenon, in 1930s America. Serial dramas dealing with humdrum-butoccasionally- melodramatic domestic life were as common then as they are on television now, and several of those on the commercial US networks were sponsored by soap manufacturers. A writer on the Christian Century in 1938 said ‘These fifteen-minute tragedies…I call the “soap tragedies”…because it is by the grace of soap I am allowed to shed tears for these characters who suffer so much from life’.

The soap connection soon linked up with horse opera, a mildly derisive term for a Western movie that had been around since the 1920s, to produce soap opera (a later coinage on the same model was space opera). The abbreviated version soap is recorded as early as 1943.

Mesoamerica (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1948, from meso- + America.
psoas (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1680s, from Greek psoa (plural psoai) "muscles of the loins." Related: Psoitis.
Gk. [psoas], the gen. of the feminine noun [psoa], was mistaken by the French anatomist Jean Riolan (1577-1657) for the nom. of a (nonexistent) masculine noun. It was he who introduced this erroneous form into anatomy." [Klein]
soak (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English socian (intransitive) "to soak, to lie in liquid," from Proto-Germanic *sukon (cognates: West Flemish soken), possibly from PIE *sug-, from root *seue- (2) "to take liquid" (see sup (v.2)). Transitive sense "drench, permeate thoroughly" is from mid-14c.; that of "cause to lie in liquid" is from early 15c. Meaning "take up by absorption" is from 1550s. Slang meaning "to overcharge" first recorded 1895. Related: Soaked; soaking. As a noun, mid-15c., from the verb.
soap (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English sape "soap, salve" (originally a reddish hair dye used by Germanic warriors to give a frightening appearance), from Proto-Germanic *saipon "dripping thing, resin" (cognates: Middle Low German sepe, West Frisian sjippe, Dutch zeep, Old High German seiffa, German seife "soap," Old High German seifar "foam," Old English sipian "to drip"), from PIE *soi-bon-, from root *seib- "to pour out, drip, trickle" (cognates: Latin sebum "tallow, suet, grease").

Romans and Greeks used oil to clean skin; the Romance language words for "soap" (cognates: Italian sapone, French savon, Spanish jabon) are from Late Latin sapo "pomade for coloring the hair" (first mentioned in Pliny), which is a Germanic loan-word, as is Finnish saippua. The meaning "flattery" is recorded from 1853.
soap (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1580s, from soap (n.). Related: Soaped; soaping.
soap opera (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"melodramatic radio serial" (later extended to television), 1939; so-called because sponsors often were soap manufacturers, from earlier horse opera "a Western" (1927). Shortened form soap for this first attested 1943.
soap-box (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
also soapbox, 1650s, "box for holding soap," later especially a wooden crate in which soap may be packed; from soap (n.) + box (n.). Typical of a makeshift stand for a public orator since at least 1907. Also used by children to make racing carts, as in soap-box derby, annual race in Dayton, Ohio, which dates to 1933.
soap-bubble (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1800, from soap (n.) + bubble (n.).
soap-dish (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1835 as a dish for a bar of soap; 1814 as a holder for shaving-soap, from soap (n.) + dish (n.).
soapstone (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
type of talc, 1680s, from soap (n.) + stone (n.). So called because it is occasionally used for cleaning.
soapy (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1600, from soap (n.) + -y (2). Related: Soapily; soapiness.
soar (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
late 14c., from Old French essorer "fly up, soar," from Vulgar Latin *exaurare "rise into the air," from Latin ex- "out" (see ex-) + aura "breeze, air" (see aura). Of mountains, buildings, etc., by 1812; of prices, emotions, etc. from 1929. Related: Soared; soaring.
soft-soap (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1630s, from soft (adj.) + soap (n.). Figurative sense "flattery" is recorded from 1830.
docusoapyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
"A documentary following people in a particular occupation or location over a period of time", 1990s: from docu- + soap.