sosh

plural soshes

1. abbreviationslangAbbreviation of various terms beginning "social"; used especially in compound terms.

   For quotations using this term, see Citations:sosh.

   4 more examples

   In Hoover's second year there rose a prophet of the "barbs" or non-fraternity men whose appropriate name was Zion. His constant tilting against things as they are gave him the nickname of "Sosh" short for Socialist.

   1928, Will Irwin, Herbert Hoover A Reminiscent Biography, The Century Company, page 50

   This, more than anything else, was the true sign of a high school social climber known as the “sosh.” The teeth-baring sosh (long o) began as a glimmer in the eye.

   1981, Cameron Crowe, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Simon and Schuster, page 43

   Both had taught at different times in the Military Academy's Social Sciences Department […] “Sosh,” as the academic department was called […]

   2009, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Political Ducks: Lucky, Lame, and Dead, Xlibris, page 241

   In the face of Reid's prominent ‘anti-Sosh’ campaign (in reality an attempt to wedge Deakin's supporters), Labor held its ground in the 1906 election […]

   2009, Sean Scalmer, “‘for the sake of a straight out fight’: The Free Traders and the Puzzle of the Fusion”, in Paul Strangio, Nicholas Dyrenfurth, editors, Confusion: The Making of the Australian Two-Party System, Melbourne University Press, page 87

   1. slangA social security number.

      He handed her a paper with Erik Last's DOB and Visa card number. "This guy wouldn't give me his sosh." His social security number.

      2003, Michael Allen Dymmoch, The Feline Friendship, Macmillan, page 33

   2. slangSocial studies.

      She'd let him think it was over for a while, but I knew she'd be on him again at noon, or spreading the word in the back of Social Studies; Mrs. Lehmann, the Sosh teacher, couldn't see the back of the room very well.

      1995, Bernice Friesen, The Seasons are Horses, Thistledown Press, page 37

      1 more example

      “I mean he's crazy about me . Whoa - h - h !” She lowed like a cow in heat . “ “How do you know ?” “Well , in sosh class — you know , social studies —” Mr . Kurland goes , “Today we're having a surprise QQ .”

      1986, Marilyn Gould, The Twelfth of June, Lippincott, page 10

plural soshes

1. ScotlandslangA co-op.

   Maggie, rin you to the sosh for a peck o' saut.

   1897, Fergus Mackenzie, Sprays of Northern Pine, Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, page 110

   3 more examples

   Weddings were celebrated among the Auld Lichts by showers of ha'pence, .... Willie Todd, the best man, ... slipped through the back window ... and making a bolt for it to the "'Sosh," was back in a moment with a handful of small change. Barrie's usage is annotated in Hammerton, cited below.

   1888, J. M. Barrie, Auld Licht Idylls, Hodder and Stoughton, page 77

   An' as I thocht that a wee hair o' pepper would help to gie the gruel a gude flavour, I opened ane o' the wee bits o' pockies that had been brocht by Marget on the Saturday frae the Sosh an' put in a grain o' its contents.

   1896, Alick Blair, Rantin Robin & Marget: With Other Scottish Sketches & Homely Rhymes, Arbroath: T. Buncle & Company, page 82

   In many Scottish villages, the Co-operative Store is known as the “Sosh[.]”

   1900, Sir John Alexander Hammerton, J. M. Barrie and his books: biographical and critical studies, Horace Marshall and Sons, page 248