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Origin and history of soak

soak(v.)

Middle English soken, from Old English socian (intransitive) "to soak, to lie in liquid," from Proto-Germanic *sukon (source also of West Flemish soken), possibly from PIE root *seue- (2) "to take liquid" (see sup (v.2)). The Old English word is a secondary form of sucan (past participle socen) "to suck" (see suck (v.)).

The transitive sense of "drench, permeate, penetrate thoroughly by saturation" is from mid-14c.; that of "steep or cause to lie in liquid" is from early 15c. The meaning "take up by absorption" is from 1550s; that of "drink immoderately" is by 1680s. The slang meaning "overcharge extortionately, tax too heavily" is recorded by 1895. Related: Soaked; soaken (1650s, only in the "intoxicated" sense); soaking.

As a noun, "a soaking," mid-15c., from the verb. Soaking as a noun is from mid-15c. Old soaker "veteran" at any craft or activity is by 1580s and apparently was not connected with the drinking sense, but the image is unclear.

Entries linking to soak

suck(v.)

Middle English souken, from Old English sucan "draw liquid into the mouth by action of the tongue and lips," especially "draw milk from the breast or udder," from Proto-Germanic *suk- (source also of Old Saxon sugan, Old High German sugan, Old Norse suga, Danish suge, Swedish suga, Middle Dutch sughen, Dutch zuigen, German saugen "to suck"), from PIE root seue- "to take liquid," perhaps imitative, the source also of Latin sugere "to suck," succus "juice, sap;" Old Irish sugim, Welsh sugno "to suck." Compare sup (v.2). Related: Sucked; sucking. 

In reference to blood by mid-14c., of biting flies, etc. To suck the blood of figuratively as "to exhaust" is by 1580s. The disdainful slang expression suck eggs is attested by 1906, earlier is the expression teach your granny/grannum to suck eggs (1732), "said to such as would instruct any one in a matter he knows better than themselves" [Grose]; a suck-egg (c. 1600) was "a young fellow," also "silly person," but also an avaricious one, the last from the image of animals (especially the weasel) reputed to suck eggs. Sucks (n.) as an expression of contempt (sucks to you) is by 1905.

The meaning "do fellatio" is recorded by 1928. The slang sense of "be contemptible" is attested by 1971 (the underlying notion is felt as fellatio).

To suck hind tit "be inferior" is American English slang recorded by 1940.

The old, old saying that the runt pig always sucks the hind teat is not so far wrong, as it quite approximates the condition that exists. [The Chester White Journal, April 1921] 
sup(v.2)

"to sip, to take into the mouth with the lips, drink or swallow with small mouthfuls," Middle English soupen, from Old English supan (West Saxon), suppan, supian (Northumbrian) "sip, taste, drink, swallow" (strong verb, past tense seap, past participle sopen).

This is from Proto-Germanic *supanan (source also of Old Norse supa "to sip, drink," Middle Low German supen, Dutch zuipen "to drink, tipple," Old High German sufan, German saufen "to drink, booze"). The Germanic word is from PIE *sub-, possibly [Watkins] an extended form of the root *seue- (2) "to take liquid" (source also of Sanskrit sunoti "presses out juice," soma; Avestan haoma, Persian hom "juice;" Greek huetos "rain," huein "to rain;" Latin sugere "to suck," succus "juice, sap;" Lithuanian sula "flowing sap;" Old Church Slavonic soku "sap," susati "suck;" Middle Irish suth "sap;" Old English seaw "sap").

If this is correct, the two verbs sup are cognates out of Germanic, the other one via French. The noun meaning "a small quantity of liquid" is by 1560s.

sog(n.)

"soft or marshy place, bog, quagmire," 1530s, a word of unknown origin. It is attested earlier as a verb, "to become soaked; to soak" (mid-15c.), and is perhaps related to soak (v.) or from or related to similar words in Scandinavian. Related: Sogged.

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    drench
    c. 1200, "to submerge, sink; drown, kill by drowning," from Old English drencan "give drink to, ply with drink, make drunk; soak, saturate; submerge, drown," causative of drincan "to drink" (see drink (v.)), from Proto-Germanic *drankijan (source also of Old Norse drekkja, Swedis
    douse
    1550s, "to strike, punch," which is perhaps from Middle Dutch dossen "beat forcefully" or a similar Low German word. Meaning "to strike or lower (a sail) in haste" is recorded from 1620s; that of "to extinguish (a light)" is slang from 1785; perhaps influenced by dout (1520s), an
    sop
    Middle English soppe, "something soaked," from Old English sopp- "bread soaked in water, wine, milk, or some other liquid" (in soppcuppe "cup into which sops are put"), from Proto-Germanic *supp-, which is related to Old English verb suppan (see sup (v.2)) and probably reinforced
    tincture
    , dye," from Latin tinctura "act of dyeing or tingeing," from tinctus "dye," past participle of tingere "to tinge, dye, soak...in color," originally merely "to moisten, wet, soak," from PIE root *teng- "to soak" (source also of Old High German dunkon..."to soak," Greek tengein "to moisten")....
    imbue
    early 15c., "to keep wet; to soak, saturate;" also figuratively "to cause to absorb" (feelings, opinions, etc.), from Latin...imbuere "moisten, wet, soak, saturate," figuratively "to fill; to taint," a word of uncertain origin, perhaps from the same...Compare also Old French embu, past participle of emboivre, from Latin imbibere "drink in, soak in" (see imbibe), which might...
    binge
    "drink heavily, soak up alcohol;" dialectal use of binge "soak" (a wooden vessel)....Binge is noted in Evans' "Leicestershire Words, Phrases and Proverbs" (London, 1848) as a dialect verb for "To soak in water...
    dunk
    English, from Pennsylvania German dunke "to dip," from Middle High German dunken, from Old High German dunkon, thunkon "to soak...," from PIE root *teng- "to soak" (see tincture)....
    booze
    "alcoholic drink," by 1570s, also bouze (in poetry rhyming with carouse), also as a verb, probably a variant of Middle English bous "intoxicating drink," (mid-14c.), which is from Middle Dutch buse "drinking vessel" (also as a verb, busen "to drink heavily"), which is related to
    wring
    Old English wringan "press, strain, wring, twist" (class III strong verb; past tense wrang, past participle wrungen), from Proto-Germanic *wreng- (source also of Old English wringen "to wring, press out," Old Frisian wringa, Middle Dutch wringhen, Dutch wringen "to wring," Old Hi
    consign
    mid-15c. (implied in consigned), "to ratify or certify by a sign or seal," from French consigner (15c.) and directly from Latin consignare "to seal, register," originally "to mark with a sign," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + signare "to sign, mark," fr

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