Last night, I found this small word with many big meanings in Richard Dawkins' new book, The God Delusion.
sop (sop) [Italian, from sopra, above, from Latin supra.]
n.
- a piece of solid food, as bread, for dipping in liquid food.
- anything thoroughly soaked.
- something given to pacify or quiet, or as a bribe: The political boss gave him some cash as a sop.
- a weak-willed or spineless person; milksop. -verb (used with object)
- to dip or soak in liquid food: to sop bread in gravy.
- to drench.
- to take up (liquid) by absorption (usually followed by up): He used bread to sop up the gravy. -verb (used without object)
- to be or become soaking wet.
- (of a liquid) to soak (usually fol. by in).
Usage: I suspect that both astronomers were, yet again, bending over backwards to be polite; theologians have nothing worthwhile to say about anything else; let's throw them a sop and let them worry away at a couple of questions that no body can answer and maybe never will.
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It is also an acronym. SOP = Standard Operating Procedure.