Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SAUCE, n. [saus; Fr. sauce or sausse, from L. salsus, salt, from sal; Arm. saus; It. and Sp. salsa.]

1. A mixture or composition to be eaten with food for improving its relish. High sauces and rich spices are brought from the Indies. – Baker.
2. In New England, culinary vegetables and roots eaten with flesh. This application of the word falls in nearly with the definition. Roots, herbs, vine-fruits, and sallad-flowers … they dish up various ways, and find them very delicious sauce to their meats, both roasted and boiled, fresh and salt. – Beverly, Hist. Virginia. Sauce consisting of stewed apples, is a great article in some parts of New England; but cranberries make the most delicious sauce. To serve one the same sauce, is to retaliate one injury with another. [Vulgar.]