Meanings
- Something given or done to pacify or bribe.
to give/throw a sop to Cerberus
3 more examples
He has thrown a sop to Cerberus, and is consequently now acclaimed in sacred circles to which entrance had long been denied him.
1914 January, Alfred Hayes, “The Relation of Music to Poetry”, in The AtlanticFor a moment there was a profound silence all round, and I was beginning to think that I should be accidentally shoved off the moving train, when a voice asked, ‘Have you got any English cigarettes? ’ As it happened I had a couple of packets of a brand that I very much disliked, and I distributed the contents of one all round. This sop to Cerberus had the happiest results.
1921 October, Maxwell H. H. Macartney, “An Ex-Enemy in Berlin to-Day”, in The AtlanticBy calling the referendum in the first place, Cameron was offering a sop to the Cerberus of the Tory Brexiters. But in Greek mythology Cerberus was never satisfied, and demanded more.
2017 April 9, William Keegan, “Brexit hasn’t happened yet – and it is changing all the time”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Origin
From Virgil's Aeneid, where the Sibyl throws Cerberus a loaf laced with honey and herbs to induce sleep.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish lepyttelylahja
- lepyttelylahjaTranslations
Polish coś na otarcie łez
- coś na otarcie łezTranslations
Cite this entry
sop to Cerberus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sop%20to%20Cerberus
“sop to Cerberus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sop%20to%20Cerberus. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sop to Cerberus,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sop%20to%20Cerberus.
Source: sop to Cerberus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.