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 uncertain origin.]
1. Easily yielding to pressure; easily impressed, molded, or
cut; not firm in resisting; impressible; yielding; also,
malleable; -- opposed to hard; as, a soft bed; a soft
peach; soft earth; soft wood or metal.
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2. Not rough, rugged, or harsh to the touch; smooth;
delicate; fine; as, soft silk; a soft skin.
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They that wear soft clothing are in king's houses.
--Matt. xi. 8.
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3. Hence, agreeable to feel, taste, or inhale; not irritating
to the tissues; as, a soft liniment; soft wines. "The
soft, delicious air." --Milton.
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4. Not harsh or offensive to the sight; not glaring; pleasing
to the eye; not exciting by intensity of color or violent
contrast; as, soft hues or tints.
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The sun, shining upon the upper part of the clouds .
. . made the softest lights imaginable. --Sir T.
Browne.
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5. Not harsh or rough in sound; gentle and pleasing to the
ear; flowing; as, soft whispers of music.
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Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low, -- an excellent thing in woman.
--Shak.
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Soft were my numbers; who could take offense?
--Pope.
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6. Easily yielding; susceptible to influence; flexible;
gentle; kind.
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I would to God my heart were flint, like Edward's;
Or Edward's soft and pitiful, like mine. --Shak.
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The meek or soft shall inherit the earth. --Tyndale.
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7. Expressing gentleness, tenderness, or the like; mild;
conciliatory; courteous; kind; as, soft eyes.
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A soft answer turneth away wrath. --Prov. xv. 1.
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A face with gladness overspread,
Soft smiles, by human kindness bred. --Wordsworth.
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8. Effeminate; not courageous or manly, weak.
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A longing after sensual pleasures is a dissolution
of the spirit of a man, and makes it loose, soft,
and wandering. --Jer. Taylor.
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9. Gentle in action or motion; easy.
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On her soft axle, white she paces even,
And bears thee soft with the smooth air along.
--Milton.
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10. Weak in character; impressible.
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The deceiver soon found this soft place of Adam's.
--Glanvill.
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11. Somewhat weak in intellect. [Colloq.]
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He made soft fellows stark noddies, and such as
were foolish quite mad. --Burton.
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12. Quiet; undisturbed; paceful; as, soft slumbers.
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13. Having, or consisting of, a gentle curve or curves; not
angular or abrupt; as, soft outlines.
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14. Not tinged with mineral salts; adapted to decompose soap;
as, soft water is the best for washing.
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15. (Phonetics)
(a) Applied to a palatal, a sibilant, or a dental
consonant (as g in gem, c in cent, etc.) as
distinguished from a guttural mute (as g in go, c in
cone, etc.); -- opposed to hard.
(b) Belonging to the class of sonant elements as
distinguished from the surd, and considered as
involving less force in utterance; as, b, d, g, z, v,
etc., in contrast with p, t, k, s, f, etc.
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Soft clam (Zool.), the common or long clam (Mya
arenaria). See Mya.
Soft coal, bituminous coal, as distinguished from
anthracite, or hard, coal.
Soft crab (Zool.), any crab which has recently shed its
shell.
Soft dorsal (Zool.), the posterior part of the dorsal fin
of fishes when supported by soft rays.
Soft grass. (Bot.) See Velvet grass.
Soft money, paper money, as distinguished from coin, or
hard money. [Colloq. U.S.]
Soft mute. (Phonetics) See Media.
Soft palate. See the Note under Palate.
Soft ray (Zool.), a fin ray which is articulated and
usually branched.
Soft soap. See under Soap.
Soft-tack, leavened bread, as distinguished from
hard-tack, or ship bread.
Soft tortoise (Zool.), any river tortoise of the genus
Trionyx. See Trionyx.
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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[imac]pan to drip, MHG. s[imac]fen, and L.
sebum tallow. Cf. Saponaceous.]
A substance which dissolves in water, thus forming a lather,
and is used as a cleansing agent. Soap is produced by
combining fats or oils with alkalies or alkaline earths,
usually by boiling, and consists of salts of sodium,
potassium, etc., with the fatty acids (oleic, stearic,
palmitic, etc.). See the Note below, and cf.
Saponification. By extension, any compound of similar
composition or properties, whether used as a cleaning agent
or not.
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Note: In general, soaps are of two classes, hard and soft.
Calcium, magnesium, lead, etc., form soaps, but they
are insoluble and useless.
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The purifying action of soap depends upon the
fact that it is decomposed by a large quantity of
water into free alkali and an insoluble acid
salt. The first of these takes away the fatty
dirt on washing, and the latter forms the soap
lather which envelops the greasy matter and thus
tends to remove it. --Roscoe &
Schorlemmer.
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Castile soap, a fine-grained hard soap, white or mottled,
made of olive oil and soda; -- called also Marseilles
soap or Venetian soap.
Hard soap, any one of a great variety of soaps, of
different ingredients and color, which are hard and
compact. All solid soaps are of this class.
Lead soap, an insoluble, white, pliable soap made by
saponifying an oil (olive oil) with lead oxide; -- used
externally in medicine. Called also lead plaster,
diachylon, etc.
Marine soap. See under Marine.
Pills of soap (Med.), pills containing soap and opium.
Potash soap, any soap made with potash, esp. the soft
soaps, and a hard soap made from potash and castor oil.
Pumice soap, any hard soap charged with a gritty powder, as
silica, alumina, powdered pumice, etc., which assists
mechanically in the removal of dirt.
Resin soap, a yellow soap containing resin, -- used in
bleaching.
Silicated soap, a cheap soap containing water glass (sodium
silicate).
Soap bark. (Bot.) See Quillaia bark.
Soap bubble, a hollow iridescent globe, formed by blowing a
film of soap suds from a pipe; figuratively, something
attractive, but extremely unsubstantial.
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This soap bubble of the metaphysicians. --J. C.
Shairp.
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Soap cerate, a cerate formed of soap, olive oil, white wax,
and the subacetate of lead, sometimes used as an
application to allay inflammation.
Soap fat, the refuse fat of kitchens, slaughter houses,
etc., used in making soap.
Soap liniment (Med.), a liniment containing soap, camphor,
and alcohol.
Soap nut, the hard kernel or seed of the fruit of the
soapberry tree, -- used for making beads, buttons, etc.
Soap plant (Bot.), one of several plants used in the place
of soap, as the Chlorogalum pomeridianum, a California
plant, the bulb of which, when stripped of its husk and
rubbed on wet clothes, makes a thick lather, and smells
not unlike new brown soap. It is called also soap apple,
soap bulb, and soap weed.
Soap tree. (Bot.) Same as Soapberry tree.
Soda soap, a soap containing a sodium salt. The soda soaps
are all hard soaps.
Soft soap, a soap of a gray or brownish yellow color, and
of a slimy, jellylike consistence, made from potash or the
lye from wood ashes. It is strongly alkaline and often
contains glycerin, and is used in scouring wood, in
cleansing linen, in dyehouses, etc. Figuratively,
flattery; wheedling; blarney. [Colloq.]
Toilet soap, hard soap for the toilet, usually colored and
perfumed.
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