sodium chloriden. A colorless or white crystalline compound, NaCl, used in the manufacture of chemicals and as a food preservative and seasoning.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.sodium chloride n (Elements & Compounds) common table salt; a soluble colourless crystalline compound occurring naturally as halite and in sea water: widely used as a seasoning and preservative for food and in the manufacture of chemicals, glass, and soap. Formula: NaCl. Also called: salt Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014salt (s?lt) n. 1. a crystalline compound, sodium chloride, NaCl, occurring chiefly as a mineral or a constituent of seawater, and used for seasoning food and as a preservative. 2. any of a class of chemical compounds formed by neutralization of an acid by a base, a reaction in which hydrogen atoms of the acid are replaced by cations supplied by the base. 3. table salt mixed with an herb or seasoning as named: onion salt. 4. an element that gives liveliness or pungency. 5. sharp, biting wit. 6. a sailor, esp. an old or experienced one. v.t. 7. to season with salt. 8. to cure or preserve with salt. 9. to provide with salt: to salt cattle. 10. to treat with common salt or with any chemical salt. 11. to spread salt on so as to melt snow or ice. 12. to introduce rich ore fraudulently into (a mine, a mineral sample, etc.) to create a false impression of value. 13. salt away, a. Also, salt down. to preserve by adding salt to, as meat. b. to save (money) for future use. 14. salt out, to separate (a dissolved substance) from a solution by the addition of a salt, esp. common salt. adj. 15. containing salt, or tasting of salt: a salt drink. 16. cured or preserved with salt: salt cod. 17. inundated by salt water. 18. salty (def. 1). Idioms: 1. take with a grain or pinch of salt, to be somewhat skeptical about. 2. worth one’s salt, deserving of one’s wages or salary. [before 900; (n. and adj.) Middle English; Old English sealt, c. Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old Norse Gothic salt, Old High German, German salz; akin to Latin s?l, Greek háls; (v.) Middle English salten, Old English s(e)altan] salt?like`, adj. syn: See sailor. SALT (s?lt) n. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (or Treaty). Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.sodium chloride See salt.The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.