soddy

¹ American  

[sod-ee] / ˈsɒd i /

adjective

soddier, soddiest

1. of or relating to sod.

2. consisting of sod.

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noun

plural

soddies

1. Western U.S. Also soddie. sod house.

Soddy ² American  

[sod-ee] / ˈsɒd i /

noun

1. Frederick, 1877–1956, English chemist: Nobel Prize 1921.

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Soddy British  

/ ˈsɒdɪ /

noun

1. Frederick. 1877–1956, English chemist, whose work on radioactive disintegration led to the discovery of isotopes: Nobel prize for chemistry 1921

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Soddy Scientific  

/ sŏd′ē /

1. British chemist who was a pioneer in the study of radioactivity. With Ernest Rutherford, he explained the atomic disintegration of radioactive elements. Soddy also coined the word isotope to describe elements that were chemically identical but had different atomic weights. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1921.

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Etymology

Origin of soddy

First recorded in 1605–15; sod ¹ + -y ¹, -y ²

Explanation

In the frontier days on the Great Plains, most settlers either lived in a log cabin or a soddy, which was made of grass turf. A soddy, or sod house, was an alternative shelter when wood or stone was scarce. Settlers who lived in sturdier homes might still have built soddies to house their animals. Using thick strips of turf, dense with deep-rooted prairie grass, people would pile stacks into sturdy walls. Doors and windows were fitted into the soddy walls, and a sod roof added on top. These grass houses were cheap and quick to build, but vulnerable to rain.

Example Sentences

Carver moved in a cookstove, bed, cupboard, table and chairs and washtub and flat iron into the 14-square-foot soddy.

From Washington Times • Feb. 26, 2016

I first heard of him in a soddy in North Dakota, where I was told of his great logging operations when he stripped that country and removed the stumps.

From The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan As Told in the Camps of the White Pine Lumbermen for Generations During Which Time the Loggers Have Pioneered the Way Through the North Woods from Maine to California; Collected from Various Sources and Embellished for Publication by Laughead, W. B.

The soddy matter takes up only about a quarter inch.

From The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. by Shaw, Ellen Eddy

I had abandoned my little "soddy" and was living in a house on the old townsite, where I intended staying until spring.

From The Conquest The Story of a Negro Pioneer by Micheaux, Oscar

She sits at the door of her soddy with her faithful tabby in her lap and is content.

From The American Country Girl by Crow, Martha Foote