<B>sonority, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> sonorous quality or condition. <BR> <I>Ex. He has a richer melodic gift than most, ... the ability to invent new sonorities without striving for far-fetched effects (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sonorous">
<B>sonorous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>giving out or having a deep, loud sound. <BR> <I>Ex. a big, sonorous church bell.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>full and rich in sound. <BR> <I>Ex. a round, deep, sonorous voice (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>having an impressive sound; high-sounding. <BR> <I>Ex. sonorous phrases, a sonorous style.</I> adv. <B>sonorously.</B> noun <B>sonorousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sonorousfigures">
<B>sonorous figures,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> figures which are formed by vibration of a sounding body, as in a layer of fine sand strewn on a disk of glass or metal, which is caused to vibrate by the bow of a violin drawn across its edge. </DL>
<A NAME="sonship">
<B>sonship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the condition or relation of being a son. </DL>
<A NAME="sonsy">
<B>sonsy</B> or <B>sonsie, </B>adjective, <B>-sier,</B> <B>-siest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish and Irish.) <DD><B> 1. </B>bringing good fortune; lucky. <DD><B> 2. </B>plump. <DD><B> 3. </B>comely. <DD><B> 4. </B>cheerful; jolly. <DD><B> 5. </B>comfortable-looking. </DL>
<A NAME="sontag">
<B>sontag, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a woman's knitted cape with long ends crossed over the breast and fastened together at the back. </DL>
<A NAME="sook">
<B>sook</B> (1), noun. =suq.</DL>
<A NAME="sook">
<B>sook</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Australian Slang.) a cowardly person, especially a child. </DL>
<A NAME="sool">
<B>sool, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Australian.) <DD><B> 1. </B>to incite (usually, a dog) to attack someone. <DD><B> 2. </B>to attack or snap at. </DL>
<B>soon, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>in a short time; before long. <BR> <I>Ex. I will see you again soon.</I> (SYN) shortly, presently. <DD><B> 2. </B>before the usual or expected time; early. <BR> <I>Ex. Why have you come so soon?</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>promptly; quickly. <BR> <I>Ex. As soon as I hear, I will let you know.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>readily; willingly. <BR> <I>Ex. The brave soldier would as soon die as yield to such an enemy.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Obsolete.) forthwith; straightaway. <BR><I>expr. <B>had</B> (or <B>would</B>) <B>sooner,</B> </I>would more readily; prefer to. <BR> <I>Ex. Why, I'd sooner stay in prison all my life! (T. A. Guthrie).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sooner or later,</B> </I>at some future time; in the end; inevitably. <BR> <I>Ex. sooner or later ... I felt sure that you'd want something out of me (Graham Greene).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sooner">
<B>sooner, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(U.S. Slang.) a person who settles on government land before it is legally opened to settlers in order to gain the choice of location. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Slang.) a person who gains an unfair advantage by getting ahead of others. <DD><B> 3. </B>a person who acts prematurely. </DL>
<A NAME="sooner">
<B>Sooner, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a nickname for a native or inhabitant of Oklahoma. </DL>
<A NAME="soonerstate">
<B>Sooner State,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a nickname for Oklahoma. </DL>
<A NAME="soot">
<B>soot, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a black substance in the smoke from burning coal, wood, oil, or other fuel. Soot is caused chiefly by incomplete burning and makes smoke dark. It collects on the inside of chimneys. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to cover or blacken with soot. </DL>
<A NAME="sootfall">
<B>sootfall, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the fall of soot left in the air especially by smokestacks in an industrial area. <DD><B> 2. </B>the amount of soot falling within a certain time and area. </DL>
<A NAME="sooth">
<B>sooth, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) <DD><I>noun </I> truth. <BR> <I>Ex. He speaks sooth.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>true. <DD><B> 2. </B>soothing; soft. <DD><B> 3. </B>smooth. <BR><I>expr. <B>in sooth,</B> </I>in truth; truly; really. <BR> <I>Ex. Are you in sooth Lancelot?</I> </DL>
<A NAME="soothe">
<B>soothe, </B>verb, <B>soothed,</B> <B>soothing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to quiet; calm; comfort. <BR> <I>Ex. The mother soothed the crying child. Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast (William Congreve).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to make less painful; ease; relieve. <BR> <I>Ex. Heat soothes some aches; cold soothes others.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) to cajole by consenting. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to have or exercise a soothing influence. <BR> <I>Ex. Ah, thought which saddens while it soothes (Robert Browning).</I> noun <B>soother.</B> </DL>
<B>soothsayer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who claims to tell what will happen; person who makes prophecies or predictions. <BR> <I>Ex. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March (Shakespeare).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="soothsaying">
<B>soothsaying, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the foretelling of future events. <BR> <I>Ex. Divinations, and soothsayings, and dreams, are vain (Ecclesiasticus 34:5).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a prediction or prophecy. </DL>
<A NAME="sootless">
<B>sootless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> free from soot. </DL>
<A NAME="sooty">
<B>sooty, </B>adjective, <B>sootier,</B> <B>sootiest,</B> verb, <B>sootied,</B> <B>sootying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>covered or blackened with soot. <BR> <I>Ex. a sooty chimney, sooty hands.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>dark-brown or black; dark-colored. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to black or foul with soot. adv. <B>sootily.</B> noun <B>sootiness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sootyalbatross">
<B>sooty albatross,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a wide-ranging species of albatross in southern and south temperate seas, of a sooty brown color, with black feet and bill, the latter having a yellow stripe on the side of the under mandible. </DL>
<A NAME="sootymold">
<B>sooty mold,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a black, fungous growth on plants, produced by fungi growing on the honeydew secreted by insects. <DD><B> 2. </B>the fungus producing such a growth. </DL>
<A NAME="sootyshearwater">
<B>sooty shearwater,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a shearwater common on the Atlantic coast of North America, of medium size and entirely sooty brown plumage. </DL>
<A NAME="sootytern">
<B>sooty tern,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a partly white and partly glossy black tern whose eggs are used for food, found in abundance along the coasts of most warm and temperate seas; wide-awake. </DL>
<A NAME="sop">
<B>sop, </B>noun, verb, <B>sopped,</B> <B>sopping.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a piece of food dipped or soaked in milk, broth, or the like. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) something given to soothe or quiet; bribe. <BR> <I>Ex. Concessions are a sop to the malcontents in the organization.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a person or thing that is thoroughly soaked. <DD><B> 4. </B>an accumulation of some liquid. <BR> <I>Ex. a great pool and sop of blood (Hawthorne).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to dip or soak. <BR> <I>Ex. to sop bread in milk.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to take up (water or other liquid); wipe; mop. <BR> <I>Ex. Please sop up that water with a cloth.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to soak thoroughly; drench. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to be drenched. <DD><B> 2. </B>to soak in or through. <BR><I>expr. <B>sopping wet.</B> </I>See under <B>sopping.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sop">
<B>sop.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> soprano. </DL>
<A NAME="sop">
<B>SOP</B> (no periods) or <B>S.O.P.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> standing (or standard) operating procedure. <BR> <I>Ex. Presumably this was S.O.P.--standard operating procedure--by which they made themselves difficult targets from the ground (Ralph Ingersoll). I've been going around for years reminding people SOP is an abbreviation of the Army phrase "standing operating procedure," but everyone still says "standard" (Jerome Beatty, Jr.).</I> </DL>
<B>Sopher, </B>noun, pl. <B>-pherim.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a scribe; one of the ancient teachers or expounders of the Jewish oral law. </DL>
<A NAME="sopheric">
<B>Sopheric, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> pertaining to the Sopherim, or to their teachings or labors. </DL>
<A NAME="sopherim">
<B>Sopherim, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> plural of <B>Sopher.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sophic">
<B>sophic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, having to do with, or teaching wisdom. </DL>
<A NAME="sophism">
<B>sophism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a clever but misleading argument; argument based on false or unsound reasoning. <BR> <I>Ex. But no sophism is too gross to delude minds distempered by party spirit (Macaulay).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sophist">
<B>sophist, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person who makes use of a sophism or sophisms, especially intentionally or habitually; a clever but misleading reasoner. <BR> <I>Ex. The self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau (Byron). Be neither saint nor sophist led, but be a man (Matthew Arnold).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>Often, <B>Sophist.</B> one of a class of teachers especially of rhetoric, philosophy, or ethics, in ancient Greece. <DD><B> 3. </B>a man of learning. <DD><I>adj. </I> Also, <B>Sophist.</B> of or having to do with sophists or sophism. </DL>
<A NAME="sophister">
<B>sophister, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a student in his second or third year at Cambridge or Oxford universities. <DD><B> 2. </B>an unsound reasoner; sophist. </DL>
