noun

• Something kept or steeped in brine.
• Something kept or steeped in brine.

verb

• (transitive) To immerse in liquid; to steep or drench.
  "(Although I bee well soused in this showere,)"
• (transitive) To steep in brine; to pickle.

verb

• (now dialectal, transitive) To strike, beat.
• (now dialectal, intransitive) To fall heavily.
  "Him so transfixed she before her bore / Beyond his croupe, the length of all her launce; / Till, sadly soucing on the sandy shore, / He tombled on an heape, and wallowd in his gore."
• (obsolete, transitive) To pounce upon.
  "[The gallant monarch] like an eagle o'er his eyrie towers, / To souse annoyance that comes near his nest."

adv

• (now rare, dialectal) Suddenly, without warning.
  "Mr Nash […] suddenly taking the gentleman by the collar of his coat, and waistband of his breeches, threw him souse over the parapet to the object of his love."