Word of the Day

: October 13, 2011

sop

noun SAHP

What It Means

: a conciliatory or propitiatory bribe, gift, or gesture

sop in Context

The contractor offered higher priced bathroom fixtures at no extra cost as a sop to the homeowner, who was threatening to cancel the contract.

"Dinner or hearty lunch brings great opportunity, though it is crucial to bypass the spicy double-sauteed General Tso's beef and broccoli options that sit on so many tables here as a sop to commerce." -- From an article by Sam Sifton in The New York Times, August 31, 2011

Did You Know?

The etymology of "sop" takes us from bread to hellhounds to bribery. The journey starts over 900 years ago, when "sop" first referred to bread soaked in water, wine, or another liquid. Such soggy bread was considered a treat sure to tempt any appetite. Sops were considered so appealing that English translations of Virgil's Aeneid tell of a sibyl using one soaked in honey to distract and drug Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of the gates of the underworld, so Aeneas could get by him safely. By the 1600s, that mythological use of "sop" had given rise to the expression "give a sop to Cerberus," meaning "to bribe" and to using "sop" to refer to a bribe or conciliatory gift.