Sopp

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A piece of bread soaked in liquid, often in reference to a dish where bread absorbs broth or gravy
2. To dip or soak bread in liquid, thereby softening it for consumption or enhancing flavor
3. A method of incorporating more density and flavor into a meal by using dampened bread as an ingredient or accompaniment

Etymology: In Virgil's "Aeneid," the Sibyl quiets the three-headed dog Cerberus by throwing him a drugged honey cake. English later borrowed the idea as "a sop to Cerberus," a bribe or appeasement offered to a troublesome party. The Old English noun "sopp" meant a piece of bread dipped or soaked in liquid, and it survives in the verb "to sop up." "Sop" is closely related to "soup," which came into English from Old French "soupe," itself from a Germanic source, the same sense of bread soaked in broth. The two words are cousins that took different paths, one staying close to the soaked bread and the other becoming the name of the broth. The sense you gave, a deliberate technique for adding density and flavor, isn't one standard dictionaries record for "sop." The usual meanings are the soaked bread itself, the act of soaking, and the appeasing bribe.