soap

vulgar Mocking pseudo-advice given to a man who might be or is about to be sent to prison, referring to prison rape that may occur if one bends over to retrieve dropped soap in the shower, thus exposing himself. You were sentenced to five years for selling drugs? Tough luck, man, don't drop the soap!

To punish someone for using rude, vulgar, or obscene language by cleaning his or her mouth with soap (usually used merely as a threat). If you kids don't stop cussing in this house, I'm going to wash your mouths out with soap!

To be completely unaware of or know nothing about someone; to have never met the person indicated. My girlfriend got really excited when a movie star apparently walked past us, but I wouldn't know him from a bar of soap. Someone I wouldn't know from a bar of soap just contacted me online, claiming to be a distant relative.

Unclear and/or vague. The phrase refers to a now-outdated form of entertainment in which people tried to catch soaped pigs. Please make a decisive statement somewhere in your next paper because writing in this soaped-pig fashion won't get you a good grade!

Any plant that produces a lather that can be used for cleansing. Examples include the California soap plant, the soapberry, and the soapwort. My mom makes all-natural soap out of soap plants.

Inf. no; not possible. When I asked about a loan, he said, "No dice." No. It can't be done, no dice.

Inf. no. I can't do it. No soap. No soap, I don't lend anyone money.

to cover someone or something thoroughly with soap or suds. Mother soaped Timmy down and rinsed him off in warm water. she soaped down the floor.

this result did not or will not happen no go The Giants could have made it an exciting ballgame, but no dice, they didn't even score.

something that you say in order to refuse a request or to make clear that something is not possible 'Can you lend me ten dollars?' 'Sorry, no dice - I don't have any money with me.' We were looking for a house to rent on the island but it was no soap.

Also, no go; no soap. No, certainly not; also, impossible. For example, Anthony wanted to borrow my new coat, but Mom said no dice, or We tried to rent the church for the wedding, but it's no go for the date you picked, or Jim asked Dad to help pay for the repairs, but Dad said no soap. All of these slangy expressions indicate refusal or an unsuccessful attempt. No dice, from the 1920s, alludes to an unlucky throw in gambling; no go, alluding to lack of progress, dates from about 1820; and no soap dates from about 1920 and possibly alludes to the phrase it won't wash, meaning "it won't find acceptance." Also see nothing doing; won't wash.

see under no dice.

Flattery, cajolery, as in She's only six but she's learned how to get her way with soft soap. This colloquial expression alludes to liquid soap, likening its slippery quality to insincere flattery. Its figurative use was first recorded in 1830.

An absolute refusal. According to one explanation, courts would not convict gamblers at illegal craps games unless they were caught with dice (swallowing the evidence was not an uncommon way to get rid of it). “No dice, no conviction” was the watchword that referred to that refusal to convict.