Forms: α. 1–2, 4–5 sape, Sc. 5–6, 9 saip, 9 saep; 5 sepe, 9 north. seeap, syep. β. 3–8 sope, 5 swope, shope, soope, 5, 7 soppe, 6 sopp, soopp, souppe. γ. 6–7 soape, 7– soap. [A word widely represented in the European languages. Within the Teutonic group the forms are OE. sápe, OFris. type *sêpe (WFris. sjippe, EFris. sêpe, NFris. sîp), MDu. seepe (Du. zeep), MLG. and LG. sêpe (hence Da. sæbe), OHG. seifa, seipha (MHG. seiffe, saiffe, etc., G. seife); the ON. and Icel. sápa (Norw. saapa, Sw. såpa) is app. from OE. The early Teut. *saipōn- is the source on the one hand of Finnish saip(p)io, saip(p)ua, Lapp. saipo, and on the other of L. sāpo (first mentioned by Pliny), whence It. sapone, F. savon, Sp. jabon, Pg. sabão, Roum. sapun, sapon, etc. Whether the word is of purely Teut. origin is doubtful; its occurrence in some of the Tartar languages may indicate that it was introduced by early trade from the East.]
I. 1. A substance formed by the combination of certain oils and fats with alkaline bases, and used for washing or cleansing purposes.
α. c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 76. Meng wiþ sote, sealt, teoro,… eald sape. Ibid., 124. Lyþre mid sapan.
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 439. Lumentum, sape.
1371. in York Minster Fabric Rolls (Surtees), 9. Et in sape empto 6d.
c. 1400. Pol. Poems (Rolls), I. 265. Somme can with a pound of sape Gete him a kyrtelle and a cape.
1455. in Charters, etc. Edinb. (1871), 80. Wyne, sape, irne, lynnyn clayth.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, liv. Scho schynes lyk ony saip.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 23. Suppoise thow wesche the self with saip.
1813. Picken, Poems, II. 79. Nor saip nor water e’er it fan’.
1876. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., 165/1. Seeap, soap.
β. a. 1225. Ancr. R., 66. More noise he makeð to ȝeien his sope, þen a riche mercer al his deorewurðe ware.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 143. Sope aboute couentre & ire at gloucestre.
1339–40. Ely Sacr. Rolls, II. 92. In sope empt. pro lotura albarum.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. xx. 127. Of bathing and of waisching with oyl and swope.
1499. Cov. Corpus Chr. Plays (1902), 89. Paid for shope and gresse to the whyles j.d.
1515. Sel. Cases Star Chamb. (Selden), II. 99. He bought Soopp, Tarre, Irne,… and Retailled the same.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., IV. 158. As though oyle coulde not be wyped awaye … with sope.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, II. 47. They make no sope in all the countrey, but … use to wash with lee made of ashes.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., 156. Heer is also made Sope not inferiour for goodness to that of Castile.
γ. 1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 45. Most part of them would not take Money, but onely Soap, or Tobacco, and chiefly Soap.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), III. 249. Bologna is likewise celebrated for essences,… soap, and snuff.
1839. Dickens, Nickleby, vii. You’ll always find a little bit of soap in the kitchen window.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 827/1. The blocks of rough soap are first cut into thin shavings.
Prov. 1592. Lodge, Euphues Shadow, G 3. Who washeth the Asses eares, looseth both his Sope and his labour.
1860. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xxiii. ’Twas waste of soap to lather an ass.
b. fig.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 53. Monie of þas wimmen … smurieð heom mid blanchet þet is þes deofles sape.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIV. 6. With þe sope of sykenesse þat seketh wonder depe.
1725. Bailey, Erasm. Colloq., 570. Such as by the Lather of Tears, and Soap of Repentance,… have washed away their Pollutions.
1840. Hood, Kilmansegg, Christening, x. Washing his hands with invisible soap, In imperceptible water.
c. In the slang phrase, How are you off for soap?
The early examples afford no clue as to the origin of the expression, and their date is against the view that the sense of ‘money’ (see below) was intended.
1834. Marryat, P. Simple, iv. A young lady … looked at me very hard and said, ‘Well, Reefer, how are you off for soap?’
1837. Thackeray, Ravenswing, viii.
1886. Baring-Gould, Crt. Royal, I. ii. 20. They … put their heads into his shop, and asked how he was off for soap.
d. slang. Flattery. Cf. SOFT SOAP sb. 2.
1859. in Slang Dict., 98.
1876. Diprose, Laugh & Learn (Farmer). Flattery is the confectionery of the world. In polite society it goes by the name of ‘soap.’
e. U.S. slang. Money; now esp. that used in bribery.
1860. M. O’Connor, To a Rich Young Lady, iv. in R. Johnson, ed. Play-day Poems (1878), 205 (Funk & W.).
| If thy father hath ‘the soap,’ | |
| Do not wash your hands of me. |
1892. Nation (N.Y.), 24 Nov., 385/3. This, combined with more or less ‘soap,’ was undoubtedly instrumental in causing his defeat.
2. With distinguishing terms, denoting a particular make or kind of soap, as alkaline, arsenical, ball, black, hard soap, etc.; also soap of Alicant, lime, soda, etc.
See also CASTILE, SOFT SOAP, and curd, lead, marine, resin or rosin, soda, Spanish soap.
1703. T. S., Art’s Improv., I. 49. You may mix with your Gluten, either Milk, or Soap of *Alicant.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 171/1. White soda soap…. In a less pure state, it is called Alicant, Venice, or Spanish soap.
1786. Phil. Trans., LXXVI. 156. Then evaporating it, [I] obtained a true *alkaline soap.
1863. W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, iii. 73. I … regretted much that I had no *arsenical soap to preserve the skin.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., *Ball-Soap, commonly used in the North, is made with Lyes from Ashes, and Tallow.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc. 40. Ane oyntement made of *blakke sope and poudre of bole.
1618. Breton, Courtier & Countryman, Wks. (Grosart), II. 14/2. Tell her we haue blacke Sope enough already.
1704. Dict. Rust., etc. (1726), s.v., For black Soap, ’tis made with strong Lye … and Whale or Fish Oil, commonly called Train-Oil.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Brick, Some also mention … *brick-soap, made in oblong pieces.
1882. Flor. Nightingale, in Quain’s Dict. Med., 1046. Wash hands and nails carefully with *carbolic soap.
1704. Dict. Rust., etc. (1726), s.v., Soft soap, such as are the *common soap, so called, and black soap.
c. 1840. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 434/1. Common soap is composed of any kind of oil … with fixed alkali.
1612. trans. Benvenuto’s Passenger, I. i. 23. *French sope to scouer my hands.
1611. Bible, Malachi iii. 2. He is like a refiners fire, and like *fullers sope.
1638. Penit. Conf. (1657), 346. Whose drosse … is so much … as no Fullers sope can cleanse.
c. 1840. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 435. [Soft] soap from oleaginous seeds, called *green soaps.
14[?]. in Walter of Henley’s Husb., 49. Medell it with *harde sope or tarre.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, III. 195. The inhabitants make great store of liquid sope, for they know not how to make hard sope.
1704. Dict. Rust., etc. (1726), s.v., The other hard soap is made in the same manner.
1813. Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem. (1814), 102. Fixed oil, in combination with soda, forms the finest kind of hard soap.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1142. According to the practice of the United Kingdom, six or seven days are required to complete the formation of a pan of hard soap.
1884. W. S. B. McLaren, Spinning (ed. 2), 28. The lime … unites with the oil and tallow, forming what is called an insoluble *lime soap.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1143. Soda which contains sulphurets is preferred for making the *mottled or *marbled soap.
1704. Dict. Rust., etc. (1726), s.v., That known by the name of *perfumed Soap.
c. 1865. Letheby, in Circ. Sci., I. 329/2. The compounds of fatty acids with potash are called *potash-soaps.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1149. The *scented soap … speedily consolidates.
1611–2. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 198. Twoe pound of *swete sope.
c. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc. 76. Of which forseid [things] *white sope may euer more be necessary to a leche.
1539. Elyot, Castle Helthe, 58. They be somtyme made … of white sope.
1725. Family Dict., s.v., To make White Soap, take Two Hundred Pounds of Black Saltwort [etc.].
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 812. The finest white soap grated small.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1144. Of *yellow or rosin soap.
b. Soap of glass, or glassmaker’s soap (see quots.).
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 409. A mineral, called the soap of glass,… is the oxide of a peculiar metal called manganese.
1895. Bloxam’s Chem. (ed. 8), 481. Manganese dioxide (glassmaker’s soap) is often added as an oxidising agent.
c. Rock soap, a variety of bole.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 425/1. Magnesian Silicates…. Bole. Earthy, in nests and veins…. Stolpenite, Rock Soap, Plinthite … are varieties.
3. With a and pl. A kind of soap.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. (1568), 113. The wild rape … serueth for scouring oyntmentes and sopes.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 115. It’s used also in powders, sopes,… and suffumigations.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 158. This Soap is very scarce in France.
1744. Berkeley, Siris, § 58. Common soaps are compositions of lixivial salt and oil.
1806. Culina, 175. The yolk of an egg … is a natural soap, and in all jaundice cases, no food is equal to it.
1811. A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), p. lx. Soaps are hydrates, water being always present in them as a constituent.
1842. Bischoff, Woollen Manuf., II. 84. It would bring to this country the manufacture of fine soaps.
II. 4. attrib. a. In misc. use, as soap bath, -bell (Sc.), business, -factory, -froth, -lather, etc.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxvii. 339. *Soap baths … always constituted the first steps of treatment in every form of eruption.
1720. Ramsay, Rise & Fall of Stocks, 24. As little bairns frae winnocks hy Drap down *saip bells.
1862. G. Wilson, Religio Chem., 19. A soap-bell sails through it with impunity.
1635. Laud, Diary, Wks. 1853, III. 223. The *soap business was … settled again upon the new corporation.
1861. Eng. Cycl., Arts & Sci., VII. 636. Some of the *soap-factories of the present day.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. V. iii. But Towns are not built of *soap-froth. Ibid. (1832), Misc. (1857), III. 48. With artificial fictitious *soap-lather.
1820. J. Cleland, Rise & Progr. Glasgow, 87. An Act was made for encouraging *Soap manufactories.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 170/1. The *Soap Manufacture is one of considerable importance.
1866. Treas. Bot., 952/2. Saponine, a vegetable *soap-principle.
1880. J. Dunbar, Pract. Papermaker, 54. *Soap size, made and used in the interior of Russia.
1799. Hull Advertiser, 28 Dec., 2/3. Ten casks *soap tallow.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 170. *Soap Trade.
1887. Encycl. Brit., XXII. 204/2. In England the soap trade did not exist till the 16th century.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 577. The roasted *soap-waste was then withdrawn.
1558. Warde, trans. Alexis’ Secr., 41. Mingle it with the saied *Sope water.
1847. W. C. L. Martin, The Ox, 155/1. Injections … of soap-water and oil.
b. In the names of apparatus used in making soap, as soap-caldron, copper, kettle, mill, etc.
1558. Warde, trans. Alexis’ Secr., 19 b. It shall be good to set the saied cawdron … as *Sope cawdrons be set.
1790. in Essex Rev. (1906), XV. 87. The sugar-houses and soap-cauldrons.
1863. in Richardson & Watts, Chem. Technol., I. 680. Any alkali … which may be introduced into the *soap copper.
1873. Weale, Dict. Arch., s.v., *Soap-engine, a machine upon which the slabs of soap are piled to be cross-cut into bars.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., vi. § 1. 372. It is then cleansed or transferred to the *soap frames to cool.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 660/2. Curb,… an inclined circular plate around the margin of a *soap or salt kettle.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1145. The *soap-pans used in the United Kingdom are made of cast iron.
c. In the sense of ‘used for holding soap,’ as soap-box, -case, chest, dish, tray.
1844. G. Dodd, Textile Manuf., ii. 53. In all such machines, whether called ‘dye-becks,’ *‘soap-becks,’ or others.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 260/1. A soap-beck contains soap-suds.
1660. Act 12 Chas. II., c. 4 Sched. s.v. Boxes, *Soap-boxes the Shock, containing three-score boxes.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6130, Sponge tray, soap boxes, and brush trays.
1895. G. Meredith, Amazing Marriage, viii. He came back bearing his metal *soap-case.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. III. i. Likewise coffee-chests, *soap-chests.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xlii. An old cracked basin, ewer and *soap-dish.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 368/1. A green and white chamber service all complete, with *soap trays and brush trays.
5. Comb. a. With nouns denoting persons, as soap-grinder, -monger, -patentee, -projector, -seller, etc., or in names of appliances, as soap-culler, -holder. Also SOAP-BOILER, -MAKER.
(a) 14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 687. Hic smigmator, a sop-seler.
1549. Bale, in Cheeke, Hurt of Sedition (1641), Pref. a iv b. Some they sold to the Grociers and Sope-sellers.
1646. (title) A Looking-Glasse for Sope-Patentees:… making discovery of a new Project … propounded (by the Sope-Projectors) to the Parliament.
1648. Gage, West Ind., Table, The Sope-houses at Lambeth, with the Sope Patentee belonging to them.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, III. 337. Let the sope-mongers hence learn not to counteract their boasted agent.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 456. Lime is used by the soap-manufacturer to render soda caustic.
1881. Instr. Census Clerks (1885), 77. Dry Soap Grinder. Soap Trimmer.
(b) 1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 631. Space for soap-holders, brush-trays, &c.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 827/1. Soap Cutter. An apparatus for caking or barring soap.
b. With vbl. sbs., as soap-barring, -cutting, etc. Chiefly in attrib. use.
1851. Catal. Gt. Exhibition, p. c. Soap-cutting Machine.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2232/2. Soap Barring and Caking Machine. Ibid., 2233/1. Soap-crutching Machine.
1899. Daily News, 23 May, 10/2, Advt. Wanted.—Superintendent for Card Box Making and Soap Stamping and Packing Departments.
c. Similative, as soap-like adj.
1858. Mayne, Expos. Lex., 1169/1. The offensive soap-like substance.
1866. Treas. Bot., 952/2. Trees … possessing soap-like properties.
6. Special combs.: soap-ball, a piece of soap formed as a ball, now esp. by the admixture of starch; soap-cerate (see quots.); † soap-earth, soapstone; soap extract, -fat, -fish (see quots.); soap-house, a soap-boiler’s premises; soap-lees, spent soap-lye; soap-liniment (see quots.); soap-lock U.S., a lock of hair made smooth by the application of soap; hence, one who wears such, a low fellow, a rough or rowdy; soap-lye, a caustic alkaline lye obtained by running water upon alternate layers of soda ash and quicklime, and used in soap-making; soapman Sc., a soap-maker; soap plaster, a healing-plaster chiefly composed of soap; soap powder (see quot. s.v. soap extract); † soap-scale, a kind of clay (see quot.); soap-test (see quot.); soap-work(s, a soap-manufactory.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 420. Those *sope balls that are to polish the skin and to rid it from wrinkles.
1829. Scott, Doom of Devorgoil, III. ii. My soap-ball is of the mild alkali made.
1852. Royle, Man. Mat. Med. (ed. 2), 540. Ceratum Saponis Compositum. Compound *Soap Cerate.
a. 1860. Wood & Bache, Dispensatory U. S. (1865), 1044. Soap-cerate … is used in scrofulous swellings and other instances of chronic external inflammation.
1876. Harley, Royle’s Man. Mat. Med. (ed. 6), 243. Soap Cerate Plaster. This is a mixture of lead, soap, and the acetates of lead and soda.
1696. Phil. Trans., XIX. 228. There is a considerable natural curiosity in the Neighbourhood of Smyrna, called by the Franks *Soap-Earth.
1758. Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornw., 70. Near Smyrna there is a fine whitish soap-earth.
1887. Encycl. Brit., XXII. 204/1. ‘Soap powders’ and *‘soap extracts’ are simply preparations of alkalis.
1879. Webster, Suppl., *Soap-fat, the refuse of kitchens, used in making soap.
1876. Goode, Fishes of Bermudas, 60. A *‘Soap-fish’ also occurs, probably either Rhypticus saponaceus … or Promicropterus maculatus.
1648. Gage, West Ind., 5. Of the *Sope-houses at Lambeth.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., I. Savonnerie,… a Sope-house, a place where Soap is made.
1810. Sporting Mag., XXXV. 80. The corner of the soap house.
1854. Hull improv. Act, 33. Any candle-house … or soap-house.
1746. Langrish, Exper. upon Brutes, 19. Injecting too great a quantity of *Soap-lees.
1789. Buchan, Domest. Med. (1790), 327. The caustic alkali, or soap-lees, is the medicine chiefly in vogue at present for the stone.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 169/1. The nuisance of soap-lees waggons passing through London.
1852. Royle Man. Mat. Med. (ed. 2), 540. Linimentum Saponis.… *Soap Liniment…. Stimulant Embrocation. A vehicle for Opium, &c.
1864. Chambers’s Encycl., VI. 141/2. Soap Liniment, or Opodeldoc, the constituents of which are soap, camphor, and spirits of rosemary.
1848. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 319. *Soap-Lock. A lock of hair made to lie smooth by soaping it…. It is, in fact, but another name for a Rowdy or Loafer.
1854. ‘Marion Harland,’ Alone, xvi. 187. Shaking in your shoes, this minute, at the prospect of the penitentiary, and the loss of your soap-locks.
1864. T. L. Nichols, 40 Yrs. Amer. Life, I. 173. A German Jew, with … soaplocks that would have astonished the Bowery in the palmiest days of soaplockism.
1774. T. Percival, Ess. (1776), III. 144. The *soap ley is so caustic … that it can be taken only in the smallest quantity.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., viii. 547. It is digested in an imperfect soap ley.
1883. R. Haldane, Workshop Rec., Ser. II. 311/1. The production of crude glycerine from spent soap-lyes.
1813. Picken, Poems, II. 79. In vain was fill’d the *saipman’s pan.
1789. Med. Comment., II. 344. The … applications were changed for a *soap plaister.
1876. Harley, Royle’s Man. Mat. Med. (ed. 6), 243. Soap Plaster.
1704. Dict. Rust. (1726), s.v. Clay, Cowshot-Clay, or the *Soap-scale lying in Coal-mines.
1861. Eng. Cycl., Arts & Sci., VII. 637. *Soap-test, a solution of white curd soap in proof spirit; it is used in ascertaining the amount of hardness of waters.
1649. Sc. Acts, Chas. II. (1872), VI. II. 300/2. The preiudice whilk the decay of the *Sopeworkis has occasioned to the kingdome. Ibid. (1695), Will. III. (1822), IX. 491/2. The said Robert Douglas his Soap work.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1143. Great waste of alkali … in many soap-works.
b. Forming names of plants or trees, or their products: soap-apple (see quots.); soap-bark, a vegetable principle obtained from certain trees, as the Quillaja Saponaria of Chili, the common soapwort, Saponaria officinalis, and allied species, and used as a substitute for soap; saponin; soap-bulb, the soap-plant; soap-fruit, = SOAPBERRY 1; soap-gentian U.S., soapwort gentian; soap-nut, = SOAPBERRY; also attrib.; soap-plant U.S., an American liliaceous plant, Chlorogalum pomeridianum, used as a detersive; also, the soapberry; soap-pod (see quots.); soap-root (see quot. 1866); soap-tree, one or other of various species of trees or plants (see later quots.), of which the roots, leaves or fruits yield a substitute for soap; also attrib.; soap-weed, † (a) the soapwort, Saponaria officinalis; (b) a North American plant (see quots. 1884, 1890); soapwood, the timber-tree or shrub Clethra tinifolia, native to the West Indies; also, a North American plant (see quot. 1771).
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 317. *Soap Apple, Sapindus.
1864. Webster, Soap-plant, one of several plants used in the place of soap, as the Phalangium pomeridianum, a Californian plant…. It is called also soap-apple and soap-tree.
1861. Eng. Cycl., Arts & Sci., VII. 636. A substance called *soap bark was brought to Europe from some tropical country in 1859.
1866. Treas. Bot., 952/2. Its bark, called Quillai or Soap-bark, is rough and dark coloured.
1883. R. Haldane, Workshop Rec., Ser. II. 139/1. An article … is brushed with a cold decoction of soap-bark.
1874. Treas. Bot., Suppl. 1279/2. Chlorogalum pomeridianum.… The bulbous root, when rubbed in water, makes a lather…: hence it is known as the *Soap-bulb.
1666. J. Davies, trans. Rochefort’s Caribby Isles, 48. One fruit … about the bigness of a small Plumb … is commonly called the *Soap-fruit.
1845–50. Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., App. 105. Gentiana saponaria,… *Soap gentian.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Soap-nut, a name for the seed of the Mimosa abstergens.
1866. Treas. Bot., 5/2. The pods of Acacia concinna are used in India like those of the soap-nut for washing the head.
1884. Encycl. Brit., XVII. 665/1. Soap nuts are the fruits of various species of Sapindus, especially S. Saponaria, natives of tropical regions.
1847. Ruxton, Adv. Mexico, xxv. 222. A barren rolling prairie … covered with the palmilla or *soap-plant.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 425. Soap-Plant. (Chlorogalum pomeridianum). A plant common in California and New Mexico.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., Indian soap-plant,… the soapberry Sapindus acuminatus, and … the Chlorogalum.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1068/1. *Soap-pods, the Chinese name of the pods of several species of Cæsalpinia.
1891. Cent. Dict., Soapnut,… the fruit of … Acacia concinna.… Also [called] soap-pod.
1846. Lindley, Veg. Kingd., 497. Vaccaria vulgaris … contains Saponine, as also does the Egyptian *Soap-root.
1866. Chambers’s Encycl., VIII. 793/1. The Egyptian Soap-root (Gypsophila struthium), and the Spanish Soap-root (G. Hispanica),… have been employed for washing from time immemorial.
1666. J. Davies, trans. Rochefort’s Caribby Isles, 48. There are two sorts of Trees … called the *Soap-trees from the vertue they have to whiten clothes.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 206. The Soap Tree [Sapindus]…. The seed vessels of this plant are very detersive and acrid.
1859. All Year Round, No. 32. 127. In Chili there is a soap-tree called Quillaya saponaria.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 503. New shorn wool which is very soft, and not trimmed with *sope-weed.
1884. Encycl. Brit., XVII. 401. Y[ucca] filamentosa, commonly called amole or soap-weed.
1890. Gunter, Miss Nobody, iv. 47. Bare of everything for five hundred yards but gemma grasses, soap weed, and small cacti.
1732. Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XXXVII. 450. *Soap-Wood. The Bark and Leaves of this Tree being bruised and mixed with Water produce a Lather.
1771. J. R. Forster, Flora Amer. Septentr., 17. Rhexia virginica Soap-wood.
1864. Grisebach, Flora Brit. W. Ind., 787/2. Soapwood: Clethra tinifolia.
