soup

SaySOOP/sup//suːp/

15 meanings of soup

1
nouncountable or uncountable
A liquid food made by cooking meat, vegetables, or other things in water, usually eaten hot from a bowl.
Like a warm drink with pieces of food floating in it.
Mom made chicken soup when I was sick.
Hot soup is perfect on a cold winter day.
UsageSay some soup or a bowl of soup. A soup can mean one kind or one serving.
Similarbroth
2
liquid partnoununcountable
The thin liquid part of a soup, without the solid pieces.
He spooned up the soup and left the vegetables in the bowl.
I like to drink the soup first and eat the noodles after.
Similarbroth, liquid
3
thick mixturenounfigurativelycountable or uncountable
Any thick, messy mix that looks like soup.
The melted snow and mud made a brown soup on the road.
After the snow melted, the trail was a brown soup of mud and water.
UsageOften a soup of something: a soup of mud.
Similarsludge, mush, slurry, mess, slop
Note

Less common meanings

4
troublenouncolloquialfigurativelyUKcountable or uncountablewith the
A bad or difficult situation, like trouble or a mess.
Like being stuck in a sticky mess you can't easily get out of.
We'll be in the soup if the boss finds out.
Missing the last train put us right in the soup.
UsageUsually in the soup, meaning in trouble.
Similartrouble, fix, jam, pickle, mess
Note
5
thick fognounslangfigurativelycountable or uncountable
Thick fog that is hard to see through.
Like air so thick and cloudy you can't see your own hand.
The pilots couldn't land in all that soup.
We drove slowly through the soup on the coast road.
UsageSay pea soup to make clear you mean fog.
Similarfog, murk, mist, haze
Note
6
origin of lifenounfigurativelycountable or uncountable
A liquid mix of natural chemicals thought to have helped life begin on Earth.
Like a big pot of mixed chemicals where living things slowly started.
Scientists think life first formed in a chemical soup billions of years ago.
The early ocean may have been a warm soup full of simple molecules.
UsageUsually primordial soup.
Similarbroth
Note
7
wave foamnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable
The white, foamy water left after a wave breaks.
Beginners practice riding in the soup near the shore.
She tumbled off her board into the foamy soup.
UsageUsually the soup.
Similarwhitewater, foam, surf
Note
8
develop filmverbtransitive
To develop photo film by dipping it in special chemicals.
Like dipping film into a special bath to make the pictures show up.
I need to soup this roll of film before the weekend.
They soup the negatives in the darkroom every night.
Similardevelop, process
Note
9
chemical bathnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable
The chemical liquid that film is dipped into to be developed.
Like the special bath that makes a photo appear on the paper.
He slid the print into the soup and watched the image form.
The soup needs to be fresh or the photos come out flat.
Similardeveloper, chemicals
Note
10
verbraretransitive
To give food, especially soup, to someone.
She cooked huge stock pots and souped her dogs once a day.
2011, Diza Sauers, HistoramaHere, souped means fed, giving her dogs soup or a meal.
"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
11
verbobsolete
To win religious converts by giving food to poor people while they listen to 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 DebatesHere, souping means giving poor people food to win them over to his religion.
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
12
verbobsolete
To sweep, either to clean a floor or to move along grandly with long clothes trailing behind.
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 VillanieHere, Souping means moving along grandly, as if in long sweeping robes.
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
13
nounslangUS
An explosive, often a liquid one, that thieves use to blow open safes.
14
nounslang
Illegal drugs, especially cocaine.
15
noun
A random starting pattern that you let change over time to see what shapes appear.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–11

It comes from Old French "soupe" and Late Latin "suppa," meaning "sopped bread."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

Soup derives from Old French soupe. en.wiktionary.org
Its earlier source is Late Latin suppa, meaning sopped bread. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 12

It comes from Old English "swāpan," meaning "to sweep."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

The obsolete verb soup meaning ‘to sweep’ derives from Old English swāpan, meaning ‘to sweep’. en.wiktionary.org