Salt1, n.
n. [A-S. sealt, salt, O. Sax., O. Fries., Goth., Icel., Sw., & Dan. salt, L. Ger. solt, D. sout, O. & N. H. Ger. salz, Lat. sal, Gr. ἅλς, Russ. soly, Ir. & Gael. salann, W. halen, Corn. & Armor. halin, It. sale, Sp., Pg., & Pr. sal, Fr. sel.]
Sense 1. The chloride of sodium, a substance used for seasoning certain kinds of food, and for the preservation of meat, &c. It is found native in the earth, or it is produced, by evaporation and crystallization, from water impregnated with saline particles.
Sense 2. Hence, flavor; taste; savor; smack; seasoning.
Though we are justices, and doctors, and churchmen, . . . we have some salt of our youth in us. Shak.
Sense 3. Hence, also, piquancy; wit; as, Attic salt.
Sense 4. A dish for salt at table; a salt-cellar.
I went out and bought some things; among others, a dozen of silver salts. Pepys.
Sense 5. A sailor; especially, an old sailor. [Colloq.]
Sense 6. (Chem.) A combination of an acid with a base, forming a compound which has properties differing from those of either constituent.
☞ Salts are often classed, according to their form or constitution, in groups which receive specific names: as, (a.) From their composition; as, oxysalts, salts formed by the union of an acid containing oxygen and a salifiable base; haloid salts (see infra); sulpho-salts, or sulphur salts, tellurium salts, &c., in which a sulphur acid is combined with a sulphur base, a tellurium acid with a tellurium base, or an acid of one of the allied substances, as selenium, &c., with a base of the same substance, in a manner analogous to the combination of an oxygen acid with an oxide or salifiable base. (b.) From the manner in which their elements are combined; as, proto-salts and bi-salts, oxysalts, in which there are respectively one and two equivalents of the acid to one of the base, or haloid salts, in which there are respectively one and two equivalents of the electro-negative constituent to one of the electro-positive constituent; per-salt, an oxysalt, having a peroxide as the base, or a haloid salt, in which the greatest number of equivalents of the electro-negative constituent possible are combined with the electro-positive constituent; sesqui-salt, an oxysalt having a sesquioxide as base, or three equivalents of acid to two of the base, or a haloid salt, in which the equivalents of the electro-negative and electro-positive constituents are in the proportion of three of the former to two of the latter; super-salt, a salt in which the number of equivalents of the acid is greater than that of the base; and the like.
Sense 7. (pl.) Marshes flooded by the tide. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
Above the salt, at the upper end of the table; among the superior guests; in a position of honor;—in allusion to the old custom, in the houses of people of rank, of placing a large salt-cellar near the middle of a long table, the places above which were assigned to the guests of more distinction, and those below to dependants, inferiors, and poor relations. — Below the salt, at the lower end of the table; among the guests of inferior rank; hence, in a servile, mean, or degrading position. “His fashion is not to take knowledge of him that is beneath him in clothes. He never drinks below the salt.” B. Jonson. — Acid salt (Chem.), a salt which has an acid reaction with test-paper. — Alkaline salt, a salt which has an alkaline reaction with test-paper. — Binary theory of salts, a theory according to which all salts are regarded as composed of two portions, and analogous in their constitution to common salt or chloride of sodium, that is, as compounded of a metallic element or some compound performing the function of a metallic element, as ammonium, and a non-metallic element, as chlorine, iodine, bromine, &c., or some compound performing the function of such an element, and called the salt-radical. Graham. Miller. — Decrepitating salt, a salt which bursts into small fragments with a crackling noise when heated. — Double salt, a salt formed by the combination of two salts. — Epsom-salts. See EPSOM-SALT. — Essential salt, a salt procured from the juices of plants by crystallization. — Fusible salt, microcosmic salt. — Glauber-salts. See GLAUBER'S-SALT. — Haloid salt, a binary compound formed by the union of chlorine, bromine, iodine, or some allied substance, with a metal, and analogous to common salt, which contains chlorine and sodium. — Microcosmic salt. See MICROCOSMIC. — Monobasic, bibasic, and tribasic salts, salts in which one equivalent of the acid is united to one, two, or three equivalents of the base respectively. — Neutral salt, a salt in which the acid and basic affinities of its components are most completely satisfied. — Permanent salt, a salt which undergoes no change on exposure to the air. — Salt of amber, succinic acid. [Obs.] — Salt of colcothar, sulphate of iron. [Obs.] — Salt of hartshorn. See HARTSHORN. — Salt of lemons, binoxalate of potash;—often used to remove stains of iron rust from linen. The name is also applied to oxalic acid, used for the same purpose. See LEMON. — Salt of Saturn, acetate of lead; sugar of lead;—from Saturn, the old alchemistic name of lead. [Obs.] — Salt of Seignette, tartrate of potassa and soda; Rochelle-salt. — Salt of soda, carbonate of soda. [Obs.] — Salt of sorrel, salt of lemons; also, oxalic acid. — Salt of tartar, carbonate of potash;—so called as having at first been prepared from cream of tartar. — Salt of Venus, sulphate of copper; blue vitriol;—from Venus, the old alchemistic name of copper. [Obs.] — Salt of wisdom, a compound muriate of mercury and ammonia. [Obs.] — Spirit of salt, muriatic or hydrochloric acid. See MURIATIC.