SOAKING

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does soaking mean? 

• SOAKING (noun)
  The noun SOAKING has 3 senses:

1. the process of becoming softened and saturated as a consequence of being immersed in water (or other liquid)

2. the act of making something completely wet

3. washing something by allowing it to soak

  Familiarity information: SOAKING used as a noun is uncommon.

• SOAKING (adverb)
  The adverb SOAKING has 1 sense:

1. extremely wet

  Familiarity information: SOAKING used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOAKING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The process of becoming softened and saturated as a consequence of being immersed in water (or other liquid)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

soak; soakage; soaking

Context example:

a good soak put life back in the wagon

Hypernyms ("soaking" is a kind of...):

action; activity; natural action; natural process (a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings))

Derivation:

soak (submerge in a liquid)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of making something completely wet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

drenching; soaking; souse; sousing

Context example:

he gave it a good drenching

Hypernyms ("soaking" is a kind of...):

wetting (the act of making something wet)

Derivation:

soak (cover with liquid; pour liquid onto)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Washing something by allowing it to soak

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

soak; soaking

Hypernyms ("soaking" is a kind of...):

lavation; wash; washing (the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water))

Derivation:

soak (submerge in a liquid)

• SOAKING (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extremely wet

Synonyms:

dripping; soaking; sopping

Context example:

soaking wet

 Context examples 

My aunt went on with a quiet enjoyment, in which there was very little affectation, if any; drinking the warm ale with a tea-spoon, and soaking her strips of toast in it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Protecting marine life could help the oceans to function better, soaking up more carbon and providing barriers against sea level rises and storm surges, in the form of coral reefs and mangrove swamps.

(Oceans running out of oxygen at unprecedented rate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

To my surprise, my clothes had dried on me and there seemed no indications of catching cold, either from the last soaking or from the prolonged soaking from the foundering of the Martinez.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Several times we shipped a little water, and my breeches and the tails of my coat were all soaking wet before we had gone a hundred yards.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

His gown was turned back from his shoulders, and the flesh there was a sight to make a man wince, for it was all beaten to a pulp, and the blood was soaking into his gown and trickling down upon the ground.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I shuddered as I stood and looked round me: it was an inclement day for outdoor exercise; not positively rainy, but darkened by a drizzling yellow fog; all under foot was still soaking wet with the floods of yesterday.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Soaking and stained, with a smear of blood on his white shoulder and another on his brow, there was still in his whole pose and set of face the trace of an inflexible resolution.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The blankets were soaking.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

With these accompaniments we were left alone to finish the evening, my aunt sitting opposite to me drinking her wine and water; soaking her strips of toast in it, one by one, before eating them; and looking benignantly on me, from among the borders of her nightcap.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)