soft-soap, v.
Also soft soap.
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To flatter, ‘soft-sawder’. slang.
| 1840 F. M. Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers xxv. (1883) 114 Ye don't ketch me a slanderin' folks behind ther backs and then soft-soapin' 'em to their faces. 1843 in Bartlett Dict. Amer. (1848) 320, I am tired of this system of place⁓men soft-soaping the people. 1883 A. K. Green (Mrs. Rohlfs) Hand & Ring xxv, I am not a clumsy fellow at softsoaping a girl. |
2. To treat or coat with soft soap.
| 1900 Daily News 7 Aug. 3/4 Long poles..plentifully soft-soaped. |
Hence soft-soaper; soft-soaping vbl. n.
| 1841 J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk II. 7 Zach, therefore,..set up in the soft-soaping and deceiving line of business. 1852 ‘Mark Twain’ in Hannibal Jrnl. Sept. 16 He was narrowly watching this soft-soaper of Democratic rascality. 1904 Blackw. Mag. May 619/2 There are some soft-soapers who never advance and never aspire. |