- soft-soap
- transitive verb Date: 1840 to soothe or persuade with flattery or blarney Synonyms: see cajole • soft-soaper noun
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
soft-soap
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Soft soap — Soap Soap, n. [OE. sope, AS. s[=a]pe; akin to D. zeep, G. seife, OHG. seifa, Icel. s[=a]pa, Sw. s?pa, Dan. s?be, and perhaps to AS. s[=i]pan to drip, MHG. s[=i]fen, and L. sebum tallow. Cf. {Saponaceous}.] A substance which dissolves in water,… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Soft soap — Soft Soft (s[o^]ft; 115), a. [Compar. {Softer} (s[o^]ft [ e]r); superl. {Softest}.] [OE. softe, AS. s[=o]fte, properly adv. of s[=e]fte, adj.; akin to OS. s[=a]fto, adv., D. zacht, OHG. samfto, adv., semfti, adj., G. sanft, LG. sacht; of… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
soft´-soap´er — soft soap, 1. a liquid or semiliquid soap. 2. Informal. flattery: »He and I are great chums, and a little soft soap will go a long way with him (Thomas Hughes). soft soap «SFT SOHP, SOFT », transitive verb. 1. Informal. to flatter; cajole. 2 … Useful english dictionary
Soft soap — can refer to one of the following: * a general purpose soap that is liquid or easily soluble, as opposed to a hard soap which will only dissolve sparingly. * a hygiene product made exclusively from natural oils. In this case soft prefix is a… … Wikipedia
soft-soap — v [T] BrE informal to say nice things to someone in order to persuade them to do something ▪ Don t think you can soft soap me! >soft soap n [U] … Dictionary of contemporary English
soft soap — soft′ soap′ n. 1) inf persuasive talk; flattery 2) the semifluid soap produced when potassium hydroxide is used in the saponification of a fat or an oil • Etymology: 1625–35 soft′ soap′, v.t. v.i … From formal English to slang
soft soap — ► NOUN 1) a semi fluid soap. 2) informal persuasive flattery. ► VERB (soft soap) informal ▪ use flattery to persuade … English terms dictionary
soft-soap — verb transitive INFORMAL to be nice to someone when you want them to do something for you ╾ ,soft soap noun uncount … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
soft-soap — soft soaps, soft soaping, soft soaped VERB 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. [V n] The government is not soft soaping the voters here … English dictionary
soft soap — n soap of a semifluid consistency made principally with potash and having various medical uses (as in the treatment of skin diseases) specif GREEN SOAP … Medical dictionary
soft-soap — [sôft′sōp΄] vt. Informal to flatter soft soaper n … English World dictionary
