soak

«soak» in Mova's school dictionary: to leave it in water or another liquid for a time, so it… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (soak, soaks, soaked, soaking); noun (a soak, soaks)

meaning for a pupil

1) To soak something is to leave it in water or another liquid for a time, so it becomes completely wet. tree →

2) To soak someone is to make them very wet. tree →

3) To soak up a liquid is to take it in, as a sponge or paper towel does. tree →

4) To soak up something like sunshine or knowledge is to enjoy or learn a lot of it. tree →

5) A soak is a long time spent in water, like a long bath. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, materials that soak up water are absorbent (sponge, paper, cloth) and those that do not are waterproof (plastic, rubber) — a classic experiment. In cooking, you soak beans or rice. In everyday life, «soaked» or «soaking wet» means wet all through after rain. Phrases: «soak up», «soaked through», «soaking wet», «leave to soak».

examples

• The rain soaked us on the way home. tree →
• Soak the dirty pan in warm soapy water. tree →
• A sponge soaks up water. tree →
• My socks were soaking wet. tree →
• Mum soaked the beans overnight. tree →
• We tested which material soaked up the most water. tree →
• The children soaked up everything the guide said. tree →
• Dad had a long soak in the bath. tree →
• “We do,” said the bullocks. “It is red stuff that soaks into the ground and smells.” tree →

note

Regular verb: soaked. «Soaked» and «soaking wet» are adjectives meaning very wet. Do not confuse with «soap». «Soak up» = absorb.

In the corpora

• Mixing many paint colours together makes brown or grey, because each paint soaks up different parts of the light.
• Wetlands soak up flood water like giant sponges and let it out slowly, and reed roots trap mud and clean the water.
• The large intestine soaks up water and salts from what is left, and its bacteria break down some of the fibre.
• Male sandgrouse soak their belly feathers at a waterhole and fly many kilometres back to their chicks, which drink from the wet feathers.
• For an hour or two they stumble on, pretending every tree is an old friend, falling into holes, soaked and bruised.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «soak» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.