Sock and Buskin. The drama, alluding to the low and high shoe or sandal worn respectively by comic and tragic actors in the theatre of the ancients. The soccus was a simple shoe, whereas the brossquin, a term remotely derived from the Greek bursa, a hide, extended to the knee, and was, moreover, two or three inches thick in the sole to increase the height of the performer.
Sod. A north country term for a mean, ignorant fellow, no better than a lout or clodhopper, in allusion to the sod of agriculture.
Soft Soap. Flattery, because, unlike the ordinary kind, soft soap is easily rubbed in.
Soho. A name pleasantly recalling the days when, prior to the sixteenth century, the whole of London westward of Drury Lane was open country. So ho was the cry of the huntsmen when a hare broke cover, expressing the Norman-French for “See! Hie! (after him).”
Soirée. A sociable evening party, so called from the French soir, evening.
Soldier of Fortune. A soldier without fortune who seeks to make one by enlisting in any service which holds out the prospect of good pay.
Solid Straight. Another name for a “Straight Drink.”
Somerset. Described in Anglo-Saxon days as Suthmorset, the “South Moor Settlement.”
Somerset House. Covers the site of the palatial residence of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector of Edward VI. On the sequestration of his estates in 1552 this passed to the Crown, and became a virtual royal residence. Here the body of James I. lay in state; here too the queens of Charles I. and Charles II. took up their abode. The present edifice dates from 1766.
Somers Town. From Lord Somers, the owner of the estate.