A common white substance found in sea water and in the ground, used especially to add flavour to food or to preserve it
نمک
Add a pinch of salt to the sauce.
کمی نمک به سس اضافه کن.
Oxford Essential Dictionary
salt
noun (no plural)
a white substance that comes from sea water and from the earth. We put it on food to make it taste better:
Add a little salt and pepper.
>> salty adjective (saltier, saltiest) tasting of salt or containing salt:
Sea water is salty.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
salt
I. salt1 S2 W3 /sɔːlt $ sɒːlt/ BrE AmE noun
[Language: Old English; Origin: sealt]
1. [uncountable] a natural white mineral that is added to food to make it taste better or to preserve it:
This might need some salt and pepper.
a pinch of salt (=a very small amount)
Could you pass the salt?
2. the salt of the earth someone who is ordinary but good and honest
3. take something with a pinch/grain of salt informal to not completely believe what someone tells you, because you know that they do not always tell the truth:
Most of what he says should be taken with a pinch of salt.
4. [countable] technical a type of chemical substance that is formed when an acid is combined with a ↑base
⇨ ↑Epsom salts, ↑smelling salts, ↑old salt, ⇨ rub salt into sb’s wounds at ↑rub1(7), ⇨ worth his/her salt at ↑worth1(10)
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
salt
salt [salt salts salted salting] noun, verb, adjective [sɔːlt] [sɒlt] [sɔːlt]
noun
1. uncountable a white substance that is added to food to give it a better flavour or to preserve it. Salt is obtained from mines and is also found in sea water. It is sometimes called common salt to distinguish it from other chemical salts.
Syn: sodium chloride
• Pass the salt, please.
• a pinch of salt (= a small amount of it)
• Season with salt and pepper.
• sea salt
see also rock salt
2. countable (chemistry) a chemical formed from a metal and an acid
• mineral salts
see also acid salt, Epsom salts
3. salts plural a substance that looks or tastes like salt
• bath salts (= used to give a pleasant smell to bath water)
see also smelling salts
more at like a dose of salts at dose n., take sth with a pinch of salt at pinch n., rub salt into the wound/sb's wounds at rub v., worth your/its salt at worth adj.
Word Origin:
Old English sealt (noun), sealtan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zout and German Salz (nouns), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin sal, Greek hals ‘salt’.
Example Bank:
• Could you pass the salt, please?
• Don't put so much salt on your chips!
• He could taste the salt from the water in his mouth.
• He wants to reduce his salt intake.
• I could smell the salt air as it whipped through my hair.
• Most foodstuffs contain some salt.
• When salt is dissolved in water, it alters the properties of the water.
• a diet low in salt
• foods with a high salt content
Idiom: salt of the earth
Derived: salt something away
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
salt / sɒlt / / sɑːlt / noun [ U ] (FOOD)
A1 a common white substance found in sea water and in the ground, used especially to add flavour to food or to preserve it:
salt and pepper
Can you pass the salt please?
Add a pinch of (= small amount of) salt to the sauce.
salt / sɒlt / / sɑːlt / noun [ C ] specialized (CHEMICAL)
a chemical substance that is a combination of a metal or a base with an acid:
Potassium nitrate and potassium chloride are potassium salts.
© Cambridge University Press 2013
Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
salt
/sɔ:lt/
(salts, salting, salted)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Salt is a strong-tasting substance, in the form of white powder or crystals, which is used to improve the flavour of food or to preserve it. Salt occurs naturally in sea water.
Season lightly with salt and pepper.
...a pinch of salt.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
When you salt food, you add salt to it.
Salt the stock to your taste and leave it simmering very gently.
VERB: V n
• salt‧ed
Put a pan of salted water on to boil.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
3.
Salts are substances that are formed when an acid reacts with an alkali.
The rock is rich in mineral salts.
N-COUNT: usu pl
4.
see also Epsom salts, smelling salts
5.
If you take something with a pinch of salt, you do not believe that it is completely accurate or true.
The more miraculous parts of this account should be taken with a pinch of salt.
PHRASE: V inflects
6.
If you say, for example, that any doctor worth his or her salt would do something, you mean that any doctor who was good at his or her job or who deserved respect would do it.
Any coach worth his salt would do exactly as I did.
PHRASE: n PHR
7.
If someone or something rubs salt into the wound, they make the unpleasant situation that you are in even worse, often by reminding you of your failures or faults.
I had no intention of rubbing salt into a friend’s wounds, so all I said was that I did not give interviews.
PHRASE: V and wound inflect
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
1salt /ˈsɑːlt/ noun, pl salts
1 [noncount] : a natural white substance that is used especially to flavor or preserve food
• The soup needs a little more salt.
• Season the meat with salt and pepper.
• Add a pinch of salt. [=a small amount of salt]
- see also sea salt, table salt
2 [count] technical : a chemical compound formed when part of an acid is replaced by a metal or something like a metal
• mineral/potassium salts
rub salt in/into someone's wounds
- see 1rub
take (something) with a grain/pinch of salt informal : to not completely believe (something) : to be doubtful about the truth or accuracy of (something)
• He seems confident, but you should take what he says with a grain of salt.
the salt of the earth : a very good and honest person or group of people
• These folks are the salt of the earth.
worth your salt : worthy of ordinary respect - used to say what should be expected from someone who does a job properly, from something that is as good as it should be, etc.
• A detective writer worth his salt [=a good detective writer] keeps his readers from solving the mystery.
• Any doctor worth her salt [=any good/capable doctor] would have advised you to get a second opinion before having major surgery.