Literary notes about souse (AI summary)
The word "souse" appears with an astonishing variety of meanings, enriching literary language by shifting between literal and metaphorical uses. In some contexts it vividly describes the act of drenching or immersing, as when a character is threatened with a splash in the river [1, 2, 3] or when someone falls headlong into water [4, 5, 6]; it even captures a bird of prey’s swooping descent [7]. In other texts it takes on culinary implications—referring to a method of pickling or preparing food [8, 9, 10]—and is also used metaphorically to depict inebriation, labeling a character as a habitual drinker or portraying the effects of overindulgence [11, 12, 13].
- Let me catch you at it again, and I’ll souse you in the river next time.
— from Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott - I thought it was Nathan, and was going to send you souse into the river.
— from The Virginians by William Makepeace Thackeray - You weren't afraid to souse me with cold water."
— from The Bars of Iron by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell - Up went the head, bang went the gun, down dropped the body, and a great souse was heard on the gravel walk.
— from More Celtic Fairy Tales - When he had been hauled about fifteen feet there was a crack; the old windlass had collapsed, and he went souse, feet first, into the water.
— from An Outback Marriage: A Story of Australian Life by A. B. (Andrew Barton) Paterson - As he did so I leaped nimbly on one side, and he toppled over, head foremost, souse into the water.
— from Dick Onslow Among the Redskins by William Henry Giles Kingston - souse (verb): of a bird of prey swooping.
— from On English Homophones Society for Pure English, Tract 02 by Robert Bridges - Let your souse get quite cold after boiling, before you put it in the liquor, and be sure to use pale coloured vinegar, or the souse will be dark.
— from The Virginia Housewife Or Methodical Cook by Mary Randolph - My mother means to pay herself for the salt and the trouble of ordering it to be cured by the spareribs, the souse, and the lard.
— from The Letters of Jane Austen by Jane Austen - To souse them cold, pour boiling vinegar over them, spiced with pepper corns and a little salt.
— from The Just-Wed Cook BookA Present from The Merchants of Reno, Nevada - The Comedian was a jolly, jovial souse who never, during the first two acts, got sober but once, and then got into trouble by it.
— from Continuous Vaudeville by Will M. (Will Martin) Cressy - But Soane was what is known as a “sob-souse”; never ugly in his cups, merely inclined to weep over the immemorial wrongs of Ireland.
— from The Moonlit Way: A Novel by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers - I don't care if you're a louse or a souse.
— from The Rat Race by Jay Franklin
