Salt to Salutation
Salt
(Salt) n. [AS. sealt; akin to OS. & OFries. salt, D. zout, G. salz, Icel., Sw., & Dan. salt, L. sal,
Gr. Russ. sole, Ir. & Gael. salann, W. halen, of unknown origin. Cf. Sal, Salad, Salary, Saline,
Sauce, Sausage.]
1. The chloride of sodium, a substance used for seasoning food, for the preservation of meat, etc. It is
found native in the earth, and is also produced, by evaporation and crystallization, from sea water and
other water impregnated with saline particles.
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. 3. Hence, also, piquancy; wit; sense; as, Attic salt.
4. A dish for salt at table; a saltcellar.
I out and bought some things; among others, a dozen of silver salts.
Pepys. 5. A sailor; — usually qualified by old. [Colloq.]
Around the door are generally to be seen, laughing and gossiping, clusters of old salts.
Hawthorne. 6. (Chem.) The neutral compound formed by the union of an acid and a base; thus, sulphuric acid and
iron form the salt sulphate of iron or green vitriol.
Except in case of ammonium salts, accurately speaking, it is the acid radical which unites with the base
or basic radical, with the elimination of hydrogen, of water, or of analogous compounds as side products.
In the case of diacid and triacid bases, and of dibasic and tribasic acids, the mutual neutralization may
vary in degree, producing respectively basic, neutral, or acid salts. See Phrases below.
7. Fig.: That which preserves from corruption or error; that which purifies; a corrective; an antiseptic; also,
an allowance or deduction; as, his statements must be taken with a grain of salt.
Ye are the salt of the earth.
Matt. v. 13. 8. pl. Any mineral salt used as an aperient or cathartic, especially Epsom salts, Rochelle salt, or Glauber's
salt.
9. pl. Marshes flooded by the tide. [Prov. Eng.]
Above the salt, Below the salt, phrases which have survived the old custom, in the houses of people
of rank, of placing a large saltcellar near the middle of a long table, the places above which were assigned
to the guests of distinction, and those below to dependents, inferiors, and poor relations. See Saltfoot.
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) A salt derived from an acid which has several replaceable hydrogen atoms
which are only partially exchanged for metallic atoms or basic radicals; as, acid potassium sulphate is
an acid salt. (b) A salt, whatever its constitution, which merely gives an acid reaction; thus, copper
sulphate, which is composed of a strong acid united with a weak base, is an acid salt in this sense,
though theoretically it is a neutral salt. — Alkaline salt (Chem.), a salt which gives an alkaline reaction,
as sodium carbonate. — Amphid salt (Old Chem.), a salt of the oxy type, formerly regarded as composed
of two oxides, an acid and a basic oxide. [Obsolescent] — Basic salt (Chem.) (a) A salt which contains
more of the basic constituent than is required to neutralize the acid. (b) An alkaline salt. — Binary
