sauce, sawce

[Fr. sauce, from Lat. salsa = a salted thing, fem. of sals us salted, pa. par. of salio to salt (q. v.); Sp. & Ital. salsa.] I. Literally : 1. A mixture or composition to be eaten with food for the purpose of improving its flavor or relish, or of whetting the appetite, or for aiding digestion; a condiment. 2. Culinary vegetables and roots eaten with flesh me at. II. Fig .: Pertne , impudence, insolence; saucy language. ( Colloq . or vulgar .) (1) Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander: A principle applied in one case must be so in all similar cases. (Used as a retort against one who is rigid in laying down the law for others while wholly exempting himself from its operation.) (2) To serve one with the same sauce: To retaliate one injury with another. ( Colloq .)