online medical dictionary | definition of soak

1. To cause or suffer to lie in a fluid till the substance has imbibed what it can contain; to macerate in water or other liquid; to steep, as for the purpose of softening or freshening; as, to soak cloth; to soak bread; to soak salt meat, salt fish, or the like.

2. To drench; to wet thoroughly. "Their land shall be soaked with blood." (Isa. Xxiv. 7)

3. To draw in by the pores, or through small passages; as, a sponge soaks up water; the skin soaks in moisture.

4. To make (its way) by entering pores or interstices; often with through. "The rivulet beneath soaked its way obscurely through wreaths of snow." (Sir W. Scott)

5. To absorb; to drain.

Origin: OE. Soken, AS. Socian to sioak, steep, fr. Scan, sgan, to suck. See Suck.

(01 Mar 1998)