sauce

[ saws ]

noun

1. any preparation, usually liquid or semiliquid, eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.
2. stewed fruit, often puréed and served as an accompaniment to meat, dessert, or other food:

   cranberry sauce.

3. something that adds piquance or zest.
4. Informal. sauciness; impertinence; impudence.
5. Slang. Usually the sauce. hard liquor:

   He's on the sauce again.

6. Archaic. garden vegetables eaten with meat.

verb (used with object)

sauced, saucing.

1. to dress or prepare with sauce; season:

   meat well sauced.

2. to make a sauce of:

   Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.

3. to give piquance or zest to.
4. to make agreeable or less harsh.
5. Informal. to speak impertinently or saucily to.

sauce

/ sɔːs /

noun

1. any liquid or semiliquid preparation eaten with food to enhance its flavour
2. anything that adds piquancy
3. stewed fruit
4. dialect.
   vegetables eaten with meat
5. informal.
   impudent language or behaviour

verb

1. to prepare (food) with sauce
2. to add zest to
3. to make agreeable or less severe
4. informal.
   to be saucy to

Derived Forms

• ˈsauceless, adjective

Other Word Forms

• sauceless adjective
• over·sauce verb (used with object) oversauced oversaucing

Word History and Origins

Origin of sauce¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin salsa, noun use of feminine of Latin salsus “salted,” past participle of sallere “to salt,” derivative of sāl “salt”; salt ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of sauce¹

C14: via Old French from Latin salsus salted, from salīre to sprinkle with salt, from sal salt

Idioms and Phrases

In addition to the idiom beginning with sauce , also see hit the bottle (sauce) .

Example Sentences

Or the parfaits served at Kamebishi Co., one of Japan’s oldest soy sauce brewers, where soy sauce gelato melts into something creamy and briny, like a tide pool made decadent.

From Salon

And, given that Taiwan and other parts of Asia have the secret sauce on creating high-precision chips, is it even possible for the US to produce them too, and at scale?

From BBC

The chewy morsels come sopping in soy sauce and flecked with chile flakes, with a rich and juicy meat filling.

From Los Angeles Times

All of the recipes in the chapters that follow are built on those mother infusions and are organized by type: beverages, hors d’oeuvres, sauces and dips, drinks, snacks and the like.

From Los Angeles Times

The dish is all about contrast: toothsome pasta coated in a silky, starchy, creamy, cheesy sauce with a burst of lemon to cut through the richness.

From Salon

Related Words

• dressing
• flavoring
• gravy
• relish