Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

Definition of salt noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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salt

noun
salt pronunciation English sɔːlt salt pronunciation English sɒlt salt pronunciation American sɔːlt
 
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.
Synonym
sodium chloridePass the salt, please.a pinch of salt (= a small amount of it)Season with salt and pepper.sea salt see also rock salt2 [countable] (chemistry) a chemical formed from a metal and an acidmineral salts see also acid salt, Epsom salts3 salts [plural] a substance that looks or tastes like saltbath salts (= used to give a pleasant smell to bath water) see also smelling salts
Idioms

the salt of the earth

a very good and honest person that you can always depend on
 more at like a dose of salts at dose noun, take something with a pinch of salt at pinch noun, rub salt into the wound/somebody's wounds at rub verb, worth your/its salt at worth adjective