soup

Less common meanings

4. 4
   troublenouncolloquialfigurativelyUKcountable or uncountablewith the

   A difficult or unfortunate situation; trouble or chaos that one is caught up in.

   Like falling into a thick stew with no easy way to climb back out.

   Forgetting the tickets landed the whole group in the soup.

   He found himself in the soup after the deal collapsed.

   UsageUsually in the soup: landed in the soup, found himself in the soup.

   Similartrouble, fix, jam, pickle, mess

   Note

   The tone is light. It suits a fix or a mess better than a tragedy, which is why it sits comfortably in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves in the Offing (1960), among characters forever stumbling into trouble. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • P. G. Wodehouse wrote Jeeves in the Offing, first published in book form in 1960. en.wikipedia.org
   • The novel uses soup in the trouble sense, describing characters being drawn into difficulties. en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   thick fognounslangfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   Dense fog or cloud thick enough to block visibility; also called pea soup.

   Like peering into a bowl of murky broth where nothing is visible.

   The harbor vanished into a gray soup by early evening.

   Climbers waited for the soup to lift before continuing up the ridge.

   UsageWith the, in the soup can also mean in trouble, so pea soup is clearer.

   Similarfog, murk, mist, haze

   Note

   Weather slang that treats fog as something with body, thick enough to wade through. The longer pea soup spells the comparison out, so it is safer when the context might not make weather obvious. Take care with in the soup, though. With the definite article, the phrase leans toward the "trouble" meaning, so a ship lost in the soup can read two ways.

6. 6
   origin of lifenounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   A liquid or jelly-like substrate, especially the mixture of organic compounds thought to have played a role in the origin of life on Earth.

   A warm soup of organic molecules may have given rise to the first cells.

   Researchers debated whether the early soup was concentrated enough to spark replication.

   UsageUsually primordial soup, often with a hedge such as thought to or may have.

   Similarbroth

   Note

   Biology knows this sense best through one fixed phrase, primordial soup. The figure is deliberate: a broth of ingredients waiting to combine into something living. The phrase names a hypothesis about how life began, not a substance anyone has observed. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Primordial soup belongs to a hypothesis in which organic compounds contributed to the origin of life. en.wikipedia.org
   • The original terrestrial mixture is hypothetical, but experimental mixtures called primordial soup have been produced and observed. science.nasa.gov
7. 7
   wave foamnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   The foamy, churning part of a wave after it has broken.

   New surfers stay in the soup until they're ready for bigger waves.

   He paddled through the soup to reach the calmer water beyond.

   UsageNearly always the soup: paddle through or wait in the soup.

   Similarwhitewater, foam, surf

   Note

   Surfing jargon that hears broken white water as something churned and mixed, the way the cook's pot is. It nearly always takes the: surfers paddle through, wait in or ride the soup. The word marks a zone as much as a substance, the stretch between the beach and the unbroken waves beyond. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The broken white water occupies the region between the beach and the waves farther offshore. weather.gov
8. 8
   develop filmverbtransitive

   To develop photographic film by treating it in a chemical developing solution.

   She likes to soup her own film rather than send it to a lab.

   Photographers soup their film at carefully controlled temperatures.

   Similardevelop, process

   Note

   Photographers turned their slang for the developer bath into a verb: film that goes into the soup gets souped. It belongs to the working darkroom, including newspaper photo staff "souping the film" back at the paper by six. Its usual object is film, though amateurs soup their own snapshots at home too. The verb is regular: souped, souping, soups. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The newspaper example contains the exact words “souping the film” and describes being back at the paper by six. en.wiktionary.org
   • Home processing of snapshots is attested with the verb “soup.” en.wiktionary.org
   • The verb has the regular forms souped, souping and soups. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   chemical bathnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   The processing chemicals into which film is dipped during developing, such as developer.

   In the darkroom, she left the film in the soup for exactly eight minutes before rinsing it.

   Old soup can leave streaks across the developed negatives.

   Similardeveloper, chemicals

   Note

   Darkroom shorthand, and one half of a pair. The bath is soup, and putting film into it is souping, as in the darkroom verb. It is a practitioner's word, casual and a little affectionate, used where a manual would name the specific solution, such as developer. Fresh soup and old soup come naturally to people who mix their own. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The photographic noun denotes processing chemicals, including developer. en.wiktionary.org
   • Darkroom terminology includes both the noun “soup” for processing chemistry and the verb for processing. api.pageplace.de
   • A technical manual calls the developing solution “the developer.” gutenberg.org
10. 10
    verbraretransitive

    To feed someone by providing soup or a meal.

    She cooked huge stock pots and souped her dogs once a day.

    2011, Diza Sauers, Historama

    "I was so mad, I let him wait half an hour to-night before I souped him."

    1904, “East is East and West is West”, in The Vassar Miscellany

    Similarfeed

    Note

    An uncommon verb, but a long-lived one. Charles Rowcroft's Tales of the Colonies (1843) has "They souped me there night and day," and Diza Sauers's Historama (2011) has a woman who "souped her dogs once a day." It takes a direct object, the one being fed. Charles Reade shows its playful side, setting it beside nonce verbs like tough-chickened and burnt-sugared.

11. 11
    verbobsolete

    To convert people to a religion by feeding the poor in exchange for their listening to one's preaching.

    I ask, Sir, what right has the hon. Member to call any Protestant minister a souping parson?.

    1891, Thomas Curson Hansard, Hansard's Parliamentary Debates

    Was the priest who denounced those books of the National Board as "souping books" the patron of a national school?

    1855, William Le Poer Trench, A Digest of the Evidence

    Note

    A hostile word, used of other people's charity, rarely if ever as a description of one's own. It belongs to nineteenth-century religious quarrels. Emily Bowles's Irish Diamonds (1864) records how "souping" in Peterstown "came to an end." May Laffan's The Hon. Miss Ferrard (1877) praises charity done with "no souping swaddling mixture whatever." Because it is obsolete, it needs a historical frame today. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The word was hostile and belonged to nineteenth-century religious controversy. en.wiktionary.org
    • Emily Bowles wrote Irish Diamonds, published in 1864. dev.gutenberg.org
    • Irish Diamonds says that souping in Peterstown came to an end. en.wiktionary.org
    • May Laffan wrote The Hon. Miss Ferrard, first published in 1877. dev.gutenberg.org
    • The novel praises charity using the quoted phrase. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    verbobsolete

    To sweep, either by brushing a surface clean or by moving along with a sweeping, stately motion, as of long trailing robes.

    Methinks I hear swart Martius cry, Souping along in war's fein'd maskerie, By Lais starrie front he'll forthwith die.

    1598, John Marston, The Scourge of Villanie

    He vaunts his voice upon an hired stage, With high-set steps and princely carriage, Now souping in side robes of royalty.

    1597, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum

    Note

    Not soup at all, but sweep in an older shape, from Old English swāpan. The Elizabethan satirists use it for movement rather than housework. Joseph Hall's actor goes "souping in side robes of royalty" (1597), and John Marston's Martius comes "souping along" (1598). Both describe a sweeping, swaggering stride, and Hall's comes with long robes. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • This verb is an old form of sweep, descended from Old English swāpan, with a different origin from the food word. en.wiktionary.org
    • Hall's relevant satire was first published in 1597. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
    • Hall describes an actor with the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Marston's The Scourge of Villanie was published in 1598. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
    • Marston describes Martius as souping along. gutenberg.org
    • The two Elizabethan examples concern movement rather than cleaning. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    nounslangUS

    Nitroglycerine or gelignite, especially as used to blow open safes.
14. 14
    nounslang

    Cocaine or other narcotic drugs.
15. 15
    noun

    A random starting pattern, studied to see which more stable patterns emerge as it is evolved over successive generations.