soaks

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of soak.

   He soaks his sore feet in warm salt water each evening.

   Heavy rain soaks the fields within minutes.

   Note

   The present-tense form carries every use of the verb, with or without an object: a towel soaks up the spill, rain soaks through a coat, a crooked garage soaks its customers. Up is its most frequent partner when the meaning is absorb. Unlike the plural noun, it pairs with a singular subject: the sponge soaks, but the sponges soak.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of soak.

   The recipe recommends two cold-water soaks to draw out excess salt.

   After hard training, the athletes value warm soaks to ease their aching legs.

   Note

   Every countable meaning of the noun takes the same plural: two long soaks in the bath, a pair of hopeless soaks in British slang for drunkards, and, in Australia, the soaks that fill low ground after rain. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, so look for a number or determiner in front of it to tell you it is the noun.

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