Etymology 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”).
And he that can rear up a pig in his house, / Hath cheaper his bacon, and sweeter his souse.1848, Thomas Tusser, Some of the Five hundred points of good husbandry, page 58:
› Something kept or steeped in brine. › The pickled ears, feet, etc., of swine.
Caribbean Pickled or boiled ears and feet of a pig
› Something kept or steeped in brine.
4
A pickle made with salt.
5
The ear; especially, a hog's ear.
6
The act of sousing; a plunging into water.
7
A drunkard.
"If there's any, giving in charge here I'll give you in charge for sneaking my beer, you slop-bellied old souse!" exclaimed Peter.1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 187:
Etymology 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”).
1
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:
For then I viewd his body fall and ſowſe / Into the fomy maine, […]c. 1603 (date written), Iohn Marston, The Malcontent, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for William Aspley, […], published 1604, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iii:
2 more examples
As for my ſelf, they uſed to ſowſe me over head and ears in water when I was a boy1730, Joseph Addison, The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq., volume the fourth, London: Jacob Tonson, →OCLC, page 154:
As she heard him sousing heartily in cold water, heard the eager scratch of the steel comb on the side of the bowl, as he wetted his hair, she closed her eyes in disgust.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 2, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
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:
souse
noun
Etymology Obscure origin. Compare Middle German sûs (“noise”).
1
The act of sousing, or swooping.
Eft fierce retourning as a foulcon fayre, / That once hath failed of her souse full neare1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
2
A heavy blow.
With that his murdrous mace he vp did reare, / That seemed nought the souse thereof could beare,1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
souse
verb
Etymology Obscure origin. Compare Middle German sûs (“noise”).
Him so transfixed she before her bore / Beyond his croupe, the length of all her launce; / Till, sadly soucing on the sandy shore, / He tombled on an heape, and wallowd in his gore.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
Thus on some silver swan or tim'rous hare / Jove's bird comes sowsing down from upper air1697, Virgil, “The Ninth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 484, lines 761-762:
[The gallant monarch] like an eagle o'er his eyrie towers, / To souse annoyance that comes near his nest.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
souse
noun
Etymology Borrowed from French, from Old French sous (plural of sout), from Latin solidus. Compare solidus (“gold coin of the late Roman empire”).