souse

Etymology 1

From Middle English souse (“to salt pickle”) also a noun (“liquid for pickling,” “pickled pig parts”), from Old French sous (“preserved in salt”), from Frankish *sultija (“saltwater, brine”), from Proto-Germanic *sultijō (“saltwater, brine”). Cognate with Old Saxon sultia (“saltwater”), Old High German sulza (“brine”).

noun

1. Something kept or steeped in brine
   1. The pickled ears, feet, etc., of swine.
      1. (US, Appalachia) Pickled scrapple.
      2. (Caribbean) Pickled or boiled ears and feet of a pig
   2. A pickle made with salt.
   3. The ear; especially, a hog's ear.
2. The act of sousing; a plunging into water.
3. A person suffering from alcoholism.

verb

1. (transitive) To immerse in liquid; to steep or drench.
   (Although I bee well soused in this showere,) 1575, George Gascoigne, The introduction to the Psalme of De Profundis
   As for my ſelf, they uſed to ſowſe me over head and ears in water when I was a boy 1730, Joseph Addison, The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq., volume the fourth, London: Jacob Tonson, →OCLC, page 154
2. (transitive) To steep in brine; to pickle.

Etymology 2

Obscure origin. Compare Middle German sûs (“noise”).

noun

1. The act of sousing, or swooping.
2. A heavy blow.

verb

1. (now dialectal, transitive) To strike, beat.
2. (now dialectal, intransitive) To fall heavily.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To pounce upon.

adv

1. (now rare, dialectal) Suddenly, without warning.
   Mr Nash […] suddenly taking the gentleman by the collar of his coat, and waistband of his breeches, threw him souse over the parapet to the object of his love. 1780, Philip Thicknesse, The Valetudinarian's Bath Guide

Etymology 3

Borrowed from French, from Old French sous (plural of sout), from Latin solidus. Compare solidus (“gold coin of the late Roman empire”).

noun

1. (obsolete) A sou (the French coin).
2. (dated) A small amount.